NAB

Financial Context

Illustrative wage differential: if the 7,000+ reported offshore roles were instead employed in Australia at average local rates, the additional cost could be in the order of ~$595M/yr (~8.4% of reported net profit). This is an estimate based on industry averages, not company-specific data.

Would this company be profitable without offshoring?

Every dollar paid offshore leaves the Australian economy, reducing local wages, tax receipts, and economic circulation. Why it matters

Financial data: FY2024. Estimate uses avg AU employment cost of $110,000+/yr (incl. super and on-costs) vs offshore $25,000/yr (salary + on-costs). Actual figures vary by role, seniority, and location.

In Plain English

• In 2026, NAB was reported to have 7,000+ offshore contractors and staff.
• This represents ~18.4% when compared to its current workforce of 38,000 (illustrative comparison only, not directly reported by the company).
• 🇮🇳 5,000+ staff reported in India in IT, Back Office, Customer Support.
• 🇻🇳 2,000+ staff reported in Vietnam in IT.
• Known outsourcing partners include Accenture, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG, DXC Technology, IBM, McKinsey, Genpact.
• 3,080 Australian jobs have been cut, with some occurring during periods of offshore expansion.

Based on data from public sources at the dates reported. Figures may not reflect current headcount. See sources below for full attribution.

The Story

• Correction, October 2026This page previously showed 7,347 offshore workers, which is 347 more than NAB itself discloses. The India 5,000 and Vietnam 2,000 figures are NAB's own and sum to exactly the 7,000 it reports as about 18% of group headcount. The extra 347 was two figures that are already inside that total being counted again on top of it: 237 offshore roles created in the March 2026 restructure, and a 110 India customer support figure that appears in no published source. The total is now 7,000, or 18.4%. [Offshore Watch correction]
• 21 October 2026The AFR put the two halves of the story side by side: NAB “added more than 7000 staff at hubs in India and Vietnam before axing thousands of Australian employees doing the same work”. Its full-time workforce grew from about 33,000 in 2022 to almost 42,000 in 2025, and the 7,000 recruited in India and Vietnam work in artificial intelligence, software engineering, risk, compliance and support services to bankers. “Many of the people doing those same jobs in Australia now face being made redundant.” The India hub was set up in 2022 under then chief executive Ross McEwan and moved quickly from third-party contractors to more than 5,000 permanent staff, focused on IT, operations, technology, security and increasingly financial crime. About 2,000 were added in Vietnam over the same period. NAB's overseas share is expected to rise from about 18% today to more than 20% by the end of the year, second among the big four behind ANZ. FSU assistant national secretary Nicole McPherson: “Almost every major Australian bank has run some version of the same play: cut secure Australian roles, move the work to an offshore office or outsourcing partner, and describe it as modernisation.” She also warned that moving the positions could put sensitive customer data at risk. A manager being made redundant said, anonymously: “We do not know if any India or Vietnam roles are impacted, but the belief amongst the staff is it is highly unlikely, or minimal if so.” Morgan Stanley's Richard Wiles said the savings could reach $450 million. UBS analyst John Storey was blunter about what the hiring bought: “NAB has added around 9000 employees to its full-time workforce in the last few years but you certainly haven't seen a commensurate increase in terms of revenue and productivity so now it's cutting costs.” NAB declined to comment; a spokeswoman said the hubs help it tap a global skills base. One figure here does not quite reconcile and is worth flagging: 7,000 offshore against almost 42,000 staff is 17%, not 18%, which suggests the offshore count has already moved past 7,000. [Australian Financial Review (via archive.is)]
• 22 October 2026The most specific offshoring document on this site, and it is not a disclosure. The ABC obtained NAB's internal workforce plan for its technology team, which sets a target ratio in advance rather than reporting one after the fact. The team of just under 500 people is currently 53% Australian-based, with 14% in India, 13% in Vietnam and the rest external contractors. Under the plan the team shrinks to 400 by the 2027 financial year, and the Australian share falls to 40% while India rises to 30% and Vietnam to 20%. In headcount terms that is roughly 265 Australians today becoming about 160. Staff in the team must reapply for their own jobs in what one described as a “spill and fill”, on a two-week consultation, with final days of 2 or 17 December. “Until today, it's been a lovely place to work,” said a technology employee of ten years. Another worker, who resigned before the announcement, shared a March email referring to “expanding out teams in NAB India”. FSU national assistant secretary Nicole McPherson called it a “wrecking ball”: “Cutting 6 per cent of a workforce will not simplify NAB's operating model.” NAB declined to comment on the staff claims. These percentages are not counted in the figures above, because they describe one team and would double count against NAB's group total of 7,000. [ABC News]
• October 2026NAB said it would cut up to 2,500 jobs, about 6% of its workforce, by mid-2027, including up to 1,500 before the end of 2026, with a pre-tax restructuring charge of around $300 million. Consultants and external contractors are also being cut, with no number given. The bank said it was particularly focused on reducing the size of corporate functions and cited rapid technological change; CEO Andrew Irvine said customer-facing roles would see no material impact. FSU national assistant secretary Nicole McPherson said the union was appalled, that taking "a wrecking ball to 6 per cent of one of Australia's largest workforces" was disgraceful, and called the bank's statement "full of nothing but corporate spin". Governance expert Helen Bird said the cuts should prompt serious questions about how much work will be handed to AI; NAB's own release did not mention it. NAB has named no offshore destination for this round, so the 2,500 is counted as a layoff without an attributed cause rather than as offshoring. Division detail is due with the full-year results on 5 November. For context, NAB's previous two rounds each paired Australian cuts with new roles in India and Vietnam, and it already has roughly 7,000 offshore staff. [ABC News]
• October 2026: reader tip confirmedA reader told Offshore Watch that the Finance Sector Union had been told 180 of the roles in this round would go offshore. At the time we could not corroborate it and published it as unverified. The FSU has now put the figure in writing: around 180 of the 2,500 roles will be offshored to NAB offices in Vietnam and India. The reader was right. The union also says NAB management could not say which roles would be affected, and refused to say whether the cuts were driven by AI. [Finance Sector Union]
• May 2026NAB has 5,000 staff in Gurugram and Bengaluru, India, and around 2,000 in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 7,000 offshore workers in total, ~18% of NAB's workforce. CEO Andrew Irvine visited the Indian operations over two days in March 2026 with his group executive team; a person inside the bank said NAB is open to hiring more than 1,000 additional people across India and Vietnam. The bank added 100 Vietnam staff in March and April 2026 alone. FSU national assistant secretary Nicole McPherson: "The notion that Australia lacks enough skilled workers, especially in technology and engineering, is laughable, given these are the exact types of jobs being targeted in sweeping job cuts." [People Matters (reporting AFR)]
• March 2026NAB announced 447 role redundancies offset by 277 new Australian roles, a net 170 Australian job cut, while creating 237 new offshore roles, primarily in India and Vietnam. FSU national president Wendy Streets said the changes would "transfer skilled jobs to lower-cost markets overseas". [Retail Banker International]
• September 2025NAB announced 410 job cuts in Australia, with 728 workers total impacted. Simultaneously, 127 new roles were created in India (Gurugram) and Vietnam. [HireNote]
• September 2025FSU President Wendy Streets called the cuts "a significant blow to skilled Australian employees". [Business Standard]
• 2025NAB expanded its Gurugram (India) centre to handle AML/KYC customer verification for Australian customers. [BankingDay]
• 2025NAB outsources at least part of its contact centre operations serving 8.5 million customers. [Matchboard]
• 2025NAB's digital banking and risk management functions are 'largely driven' by its Indian GCCs, supporting product innovation, compliance automation, and customer relationship management. [Inductus GCC Report]
• June 2022NAB CEO Ross McEwan: 'No matter how hard I try to find people in Australia, we're not getting the numbers that we need.' NAB had 700 vacancies in data/digital/tech. Bought out Vietnamese partner to own 600-person tech centre in Ho Chi Minh City. Setting up Gurgaon hub near Delhi. [Australian Financial Review]

All facts sourced from public reporting. No editorial commentary. Click source links to verify.