ANZ yesterday signed up to the ambitious jobs scheme conceived by the West Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest after announcing earlier in the week that it would cut 800 staff by the end of the year.

The bank will hire one indigenous worker in every 10 entry-level staff by 2011, it said, if the Australian Employment Covenant could find and train willing employees. The new target would almost double the number of Aboriginal trainees from 107 this year to 180 next year.

The CEO, Brian Hartzer, said he was confident of finding workers and jobs for the first 5 per cent, but the second 5 per cent would depend upon the Covenant finding and training workers in the same place as the positions available, or who were willing to move for a job.

Mr Hartzer said recent job cuts had been to the middle rungs of the business, and there were no plans to cut from the 3500 frontline staff in its 820 branches.

He said natural turnover in entry-level positions alone would provide up to 352 jobs for indigenous workers by 2011.

"We don't want to play a PR game - we want to look at things we can achieve," he said.

In the past year ANZ achieved 16 of 21 goals in its Reconciliation Action Plan, despite challenges such as earning trust with communities and changing government policy.

It plans to have 20 indigenous managers by 2014 and aims for 3 per cent Aboriginal rural and regional staff by 2011, and says it is on track to do so.

The CEO or Reconciliation Australia, Barbara Livesey, said ANZ was a trailblazer in indigenous employment among Australian companies and had been the first to sign up to a plan last year.

Indigenous workers in some rural branches now felt confident to identify their heritage after working there for years because of the culture change within the organisation, she said. Mr Hartzer said a wariness about big banks often forced indigenous consumers into the "dodgy end" of the financial services sector, and more indigenous faces in branches could prevent that.

"This is not something we engage in lightly. We consider it a long-term and sustainable commitment that makes sense for our business and for indigenous Australia."

Ms Livesey said there were now 100 Australian companies with Reconciliation Action Plans and many more in development. The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, last week launched the plan at a National Australia Bank event. Thirty companies have pledged 7000 indigenous jobs to the Australian Employment Covenant, which aims to create 50,000 jobs for indigenous workers in two years.