Aussie banks plan outsourcing to India

Leading Australian banks, including ANZ and St. George, are planning to send their back-office jobs to India.

A media report said an analysis of the latest statements by the so-called "four plus one" leading Australian banks suggests there was a slow but growing movement to transfer processing work done here to lower-cost countries like India.

While ANZ, St. George, National Australia Bank and Westpac have been sensitive to campaigns being waged by the Finance Sector Union against offshoring by committing to keep their call centres in the country, the equivalent of several hundred jobs across the industry are now, or will shortly be, based outside Australia, The Age reported.

ANZ, St George and Westpac have vigorously defended the move in recent weeks saying they needed to consider and, if necessary, act on plans to switch back-office work overseas to remain competitive. NAB is expected to follow suit.

Only the Commonwealth Bank has indicated that as "an iconic Australian company" it was committed to maintaining a workforce in the country to carry out such work. However, it has admitted to looking at offshoring in the past, especially given a looming recruitment crisis in the industry, but said it was not on its agenda at present.

ANZ has the most home-grown jobs based overseas with its biggest presence in the Indian city of Bengalooru (Bangalore) where it has a long-established IT centre employing about 1,400 people.

Unlike some of its rivals, which have outsourced their work to third parties, ANZ's Bengalooru business is a wholly-owned subsidiary and the people who work there are employed under local bank conditions.