BANGALORE: Westpac, which ranks among top four Australian banks, has suspended offshoring of new tasks, an official spokesperson confirmed on Monday, in an email sent to TNIE.
Indian BPO leader Genpact, which lists Westpac as a prominent client, signed a five-year agreement with the Australian bank on November 3, 2006.
Westpac CEO Gail Kelly told The Australian last week that she had decided to “… suspend further offshoring until (economic) conditions improve”.
Kelly said she took the decision in the light of recession, which is expected to drive up unemployment to 8.5 per cent in Australia.
Welcoming the decision, Leon Carter, national secretary of finance sector union (FSU), a trade union of bank employees, told The Australian that Westpac had shipped 460 back-office jobs overseas, mainly to India, and planned to offshore “thousand or more” positions.
FSU has also called for a permanent ban on offshoring, which it says has already cost 5,000 Australian jobs.
Australian banks led by ANZ have been offshoring tasks, mostly to India, to lower cost and improve operational efficiency.
Offshoring from Australian banks has met with resistance from employees, unions and Australian state governments.
Westpac reportedly reversed a decision to offshore 485 jobs to India in 2006 in response to an anti-offshoring campaign.
It has since then opted for piece-meal offshoring, preferring to send a steady stream of jobs in small chunks to India.
When contacted by TNIE, a representative of Genpact said, the official spokesperson of the company was not available to comment.