Scottish insurance major to outsource to India

Friday, 16 April 2004, 19:30 IST
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LONDON: Insurance major Scottish Widows, part of the Lloyds TSB group, is likely to go ahead with plans to launch a pilot project to offshore back-office functions to India. A spokesperson of the Edinburgh-based company said the pilot included "no more than 50 roles" and that there would be no job losses as a result of it. The spokesman admitted: "We have been monitoring the situation. We, like other companies, see there is a possibility for development in India. We will continue to talk with staff and unions at all stages." The pilot project had raised concerns among Widows' staff who fear the 50-job pilot in Bangalore may be only the tip of the iceberg. Despite assurances to staff that no jobs would be affected as a result of the pilot, Widows has declined to rule out further job cuts if the project is successful. Lloyds TSB, which owns Widows, set up a pilot in India, which last year led to the closure of its call centre in Newcastle, with the loss of 800 jobs. Widows is a major employer in Edinburgh, with the bulk of its 4,000 workforce in the city. Processing functions account for a significant part of the operation. Lloyds TSB, under chief executive Eric Daniels, plans to have a total of 1,500 jobs in India by the end of this year. Susan Rice, chief executive of Lloyds TSB Scotland, last month gave her word that the bank's Glasgow call centre operations would not be closed in order to ship jobs offshore.
Source: IANS
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