Experts fear loss of 'human connection' when writing deals
Commonwealth Bank, the largest of Australia’s Big Four lenders, has stopped beating around the bush after culling 45 jobs from its call centre departments.
While only a tiny sliver of its more than 40,000-strong workforce, the few dozen redundancies marked a turning point in that (according to an AFR report) it was the first time CBA openly confirmed the cuts were due to artificial intelligence.
Specifically, CBA’s "voice bot", which handles customer identification, verification, and balance checks, has reportedly slashed call volumes by 2,000 a week.
“This has enabled us to continue our focus on upskilling our team to manage the more complex customer queries,” a CBA spokesperson told the Finance Sector Union (FSU).
“To meet the changing needs of our customers, like many organisations, we review the skills we need and how we’re organised to deliver the best customer experiences and outcomes. That means some roles and work can change,” the spokesperson said.
It was undoubtedly a blow to the FSU, which has called for AI to be a big focus in next month’s Labor Government-hosted Productivity Roundtable.
The FSU slammed the job cuts as “an outrageous” move and “yet another round of ruthless job cuts affecting a total of 90 roles”.
Back in June, FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano called the Productivity Roundtable “an opportunity to agree on a plan for a finance sector with quality, local jobs, the responsible use of artificial intelligence, and accessible financial services”.
“AI is a fundamental and growing part of the finance sector, but this growth is happening in an almost entirely unregulated and uncontrolled way,” she said. “The economic benefits and productivity gains of AI must flow on to workers, and not just improve the profits of banks and major companies.”
These comments were echoed following the 45 job losses, with the FSU saying: “We urgently need regulation to ensure AI is used ethically. That means retraining and upskilling workers into new roles, not replacing them to make a quick buck.”
The job losses serve as nothing less than a microcosm of an existential problem facing the entire financial service sector, including, to a significant extent, the mortgage broking industry.
Brokers fear loss of human touch
At a May non-major bank roundtable hosted by MPA, Jessica Pringle (pictured top, right) of Pringle Finance Group asked participants – including CBA-owned Bankwest general manager Ian Rakhit – how they plan to preserve the human touch brokers and clients value amid increasing automation.
“Can brokers still expect on-ground BDM (business development manager) support despite ever-growing upgrades in technology? There is nothing better than face-to-face contact with a knowledgeable BDM, and I don't want that to disappear,” said Pringle.
While Rakhit stressed the importance of “human-to-human support when needed”, he added that having 50 BDMs for 20,000 accredited brokers is a tall order, “so we make sure that we’ve got all the support underneath that”.
Following the news emerging from CBA this week, it is clear these anxieties have only been amplified.
“While we absolutely see the potential for AI to drive efficiency, we’ve also felt the real-world impacts when the human touch disappears,” Stephanie Coleman (pictured below), operations manager at Sydney-based brokerage Unconditional Finance, told MPA on Tuesday.
Coleman said the closure of particular CBA call lines, and reduced access to live support, “has meant more time spent resolving issues that could have been quickly addressed with a real person”.
“This not only slows down deal flow but affects the client experience,” Coleman said. “In a service-driven industry like ours, relationships still matter, whether that’s with clients or BDMs. Without the human layer, we risk turning a relationship business into a transactional one. I believe with the right balance AI can support, not replace, the kind of service that keeps clients and brokers coming back.”
Kaine Adamson (pictured top, centre), mortgage broker at Perth-based Do Financial, also cited concerns over losing the human touch.
“AI has an important role to play in improving efficiency and managing simple tasks, but there’s a real risk of losing the human connection that builds trust between brokers, banks, and clients,” Adamson told MPA.
Ideally for Adamson, banks will use AI to boost productivity, streamline processes and free their people to focus on higher value, relationship driven work rather than replace them.
“Technology can enhance the journey, but I think that the human ability to navigate complex scenarios, interpret nuance, provide reassurance and advocate for clients is what will continue to set our industry apart,” he added.
AI’s positive impact
While Andrea Svenson (pictured top, left), director, finance broker at Parramatta-based brokerage Empire Finance Co., worries about AI replacing the human element of loan writing, she also sees the potential of the burgeoning technology.
“As brokers, we rely heavily on that human interaction,” said Svenson. Being able to workshop complex scenarios or get nuanced answers that a chatbot just can’t provide. Losing that could slow down turnaround times and impact deal outcomes.”
That said, “AI has also had a really positive impact on our day-to-day efficiency”, she said. “From automation in compliance and document collection, to AI-driven calculators and tools that speed up client response time and servicing assessments, it’s allowed us to focus more on client strategy rather than admin.”
But Anmol Dhingra, director, mortgage broker at WIN Financial Group, believes overuse of AI can erode trust. “Many clients already feel disconnected from big banks. If brokers also become too ‘robotic’ – using templates, chatbots, or automations without personalisation – we risk losing that trust too”, Dhingra said.
CBA fears productivity losses
AI will not be the only elephant in the room during the Productivity Roundtable scheduled for 19-21 August.
Australia’s flailing productivity has become a major concern for CBA under chief executive Matt Comyn.
CBA wants tax reform to be high on the agenda at the roundtable and believes Australia needs to “find a way to lower its dependence” on income taxes, it said earlier this month.
Australia has experienced persistently weak productivity growth in recent years, with labour productivity averaging just 0.2% per year between 2017 and 2024 – well below the historical average.
Rather surprisingly, CBA is also advocating to keep wealth and consumption taxes where they are to help arrest this decline in productivity.
“Enduring productivity reform will be hard won, but it is possible,” said CBA. “We have done it before as a nation, and we can do it again.
“It will take government, business and communities working together in the national interest to lift quality of life and deliver prosperity for all Australians. This is a generational opportunity for us all, if we are willing to seize it.”
