ANZ Bank to shift 500 back-office jobs to India by year-end
13 Mar 2009
ANZ Bank, Australia's major bank, will cut 500 back-office jobs in Melbourne and shift them to India by the end of this year, reports quoted an ANZ spokesperson as saying.
However, call centres in Australia and New Zealand will remain, the bank said in release.
The move will help ANZ to focus on its Asian business and the latest round of cuts in Australia would boost operations at its 3,000-strong Bangalore centre.
ANZ is in the process of centralising the processing centre in India as part of its plan to grow into a super-regional bank in Asia, according to its chief executive Mike Smith.
''In 2008, the size of the operation in Bangalore grew by around 500 people and it is reasonable to expect there will be some further growth in 2009,'' an ANZ spokeswoman said in a statement.
ANZ, however, is facing opposition at home over the decision to shift jobs. Leon Carter, national secretary of the finance sector union, has urged the federal government to set conditions on the support it provides to Australians in the form of government guarantees.
Last year, ANZ bank was advised by consultants to cut 620 jobs between January and September 2009, with 870 jobs identified for ''offshore migration''. The bank had then refused to quantify any local cuts.
Australian banks have slashed thousands of jobs in the past year, and sent more than 800 jobs offshore since last October, despite their multi-million dollar profits, according to Carter.
