Finance Sector Union says Bendigo Bank’s broader cost cutting programs will move its deceased estates function offshore in line with moves to offshore non-customer facing functions.
The Finance Sector Union (FSU) has accused Bendigo Bank of planning to offshore its deceased estates team. In a media release the FSU announced, “Bendigo Bank’s strategy to kill off its Australian-based operations has taken a ghoulish turn with its Deceased Estates team now at risk of being offshored.”
The bank denies this, saying its plans to ‘blueprint’ functions are limited to non-customer facing services. It says the initial point of contact for customers dealing with deceased estates will be branches and Australian-based customer service call centres.
In the past five years Bendigo has shut 17 branches, so its commitment to providing branch service for deceased estates is somewhat incongruous with its broader campaign of branch closures.
Says FSU National Secretary Julia Angrisano, “I’m calling on Bendigo Bank to, at the very least, spare the Deceased Estates team from the indignity of blueprinting and ensure that grieving Australians aren’t treated as just another transaction.
The bottom line is that Bendigo Bank is not reported as giving any such guarantees.
Not everyone convinced
In a media statement on 8 July 2026, the independent Banking Code Compliance Committee “called on banks to keep a heightened focus on their management of deceased estates, after a review found that further work and commitment is needed to ensure improvements are working in practice.”
It said, “Managing a deceased estate can involve grief, financial pressure, uncertainty and unfamiliar legal or banking processes. When banks improve these processes, they reduce the risk of delays, confusion and unnecessary distress for representatives.
“Banks need to ensure their processes are accurate, timely and easy to navigate. This is a matter of good customer service and central to meeting their commitments in the Banking Code of Practice.”
Of the 11 banks it reviewed it said three had not fully taken steps identified in its 2023 report of banking practices.
It did not identify which three.
A subsequent review specifically addressing the deceased estate functions of banks, completed in June 2026, called on banks to lift their games. It identified systems and processes, fragmentation, monitoring and accountability, and staff training and capability.
It would seem plans to offshore deceased estates would lead to greater not less fragmentation and that offshoring the function to a third-party provider would raise questions over the levels of staff training and capability.
Streamlining processes
Earlier this year Bendigo Bank announced the second phase of its Productivity Program, focusing on simplifying its operating model and enhancing efficiency through external strategic partnerships.
The bank confirmed two major agreements. A seven-year technology service partnership was struck with, Indian IT giant, Infosys to enhance service delivery. It also entered a six-year business operations partnership with Genpact, a US-based company founded in India and domiciled in the sunny tax haven of the Bahamas. That deal will focus on process optimisation, operational delivery, and strengthening risk management frameworks across the organisation.
These come on top of a Google partnership announced in November last year. While the operational rationale of the third-party agreements may carry weight, they follow a trend of cost-cutting in service delivery.
In the first quarter of this calendar Bendigo reported year cash earnings of $137.9 million, up 7.6 percent on the first half 2025-26 quarterly average. While its operating expenses were down by 4.1 percent. Financial news site, Kalkine reported that Bendigo Bank’s IT restructuring program is expected to deliver annual cost savings of between $65 million and $75 million.
This is money that goes to the bottom of line not to service customers in rural and remote communities upon whom the bank built its brand.
Bendigo not alone
The big four banks all offshore part of their customer service operations to companies in India, with Commonwealth, Westpac and ANZ also using providers in the Philippines. The National Australia Bank relies on other services from Vietnam, its workforce throughout Asia numbers around 4,800 people.
