A bank signs an agentic AI deal, then cuts 137 jobs - and won't say the two are connected

The Australian Services Union says Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is proposing 137 redundancies, part of 299 job changes across its Consumer Lending Operations and Customer Care divisions, with Adelaide staff expected to account for more losses than any other location. The restructure began in April 2026, when the bank announced partnerships with the IT services provider Infosys and with Genpact, which the ABC describes as an agentic AI company. The union says about 445 Bendigo Bank positions have been "lost or reduced through restructures" since January 2025 and that the coming losses have "a strong documented relationship to AI, automation or broader technological change". ASU SA-NT branch secretary Ella Waters said the bank had told the union that, as a partnership with an offshore technological company, it was "making efficiencies through these redundancies", adding: "We're yet to see what that means for whether or not these workers are going to be completely replaced by AI, but we're extremely concerned that, in the name of technological advancement, hundreds of jobs are being cut." A bank spokesperson pointed the ABC back to the April announcement, said "the detailed design for all impacted areas is yet to be finalised", and did not confirm whether AI would replace workers. That refusal is the story. The union can document the relationship; only the employer can attribute it, and the employer declines to.