The Hindu Business Line : Aussie bank not to offshore transaction operations

MELBOURNE: Westpac, Australia's leading bank on Friday said it would not shift its transactions and unsecured lending operations offshore for now but has not ruled out a move overseas in the future.

It had decided against the move after a recent review of some back-office banking processes undertaken at its Concord Operations Centre found the offshore proposal did not meet the bank's financial and stakeholder criteria.

Westpac was planning to offshore over 500 jobs to India, according to 'The Age'. Workers at the bank's transactions and unsecured lending operations centre at Concord West believed the company was preparing to announce deep cuts to the 485-strong workfor ce in a cost-cutting drive.

"Westpac has decided not to offshore part of its transactions and unsecured lending operations at this time," the bank said in a statement. However, it would continue to consider offshore services and did not rule out a move in the future, the statement added.

"The bank will continue to look for efficiencies which may include accessing the skills of global services companies," it said.

"Westpac recognises that it must remain as efficient and competitive as possible given that some of the world's biggest banks now operate in the Australian financial services market," it added. Despite this, the bank said customer data or call centres wo uld remain in Australia. - PTI

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