The partnership, which is subject to regulatory approvals, combines Cambridge's onshore presence in the banks' host country and expertise in strategic global outsourcing with Scope International's mature off-shored operations and experience, know-how and credibility in financial services BPO. As a result, banks can enjoy the competitive advantages of BPO such as lower costs of services, improved quality and greater efficiency without the risks and expenses traditionally associated with outsourcing.

"This liaison provides an ideal solution for banks to increase their profitability and focus their resources on growth and continued success," said Chris Sinclair, Executive Chairman and CEO, Scandent Solutions. "As banks turn to seamless outsourcing solutions to remain competitive in the global market, the potential for growth is tremendous."

Scope International is a leading banking BPO that offers a comprehensive range of services in transaction processing for wholesale and consumer banking. Scope is noted for its industry-leading data security systems that are compliant with international standards, a metrics-driven culture, best-in-class business continuity framework, risk-controlled processes, and world class people practices.

In the last four years, Scope has successfully supported all 56 countries where the Standard Chartered Group has a presence and has proved to be a superior shared service centre for the bank, according to Jaspal Bindra, General Manager, South Asia, Standard Chartered Bank, India.

"Scope International is benchmarked among industry peers in business process outsourcing and is recognized as a leader in the banking and financial services verticals," said Bindra. "Scope's infrastructure and proven expertise in transaction processing for wholesale and consumer banking has attracted wide interest in the banking vertical. Scope has carefully chosen Cambridge as its knowledge partner."

Cambridge will leverage its entire global sales and marketing collectively to drive this business forward. In addition, Cambridge will directly interface with all customers and be responsible for all service level agreements (SLAs) and statements of work (SOW), as well as providing the sales and delivery engines which will be supported by Scope's superior knowledge in the banking industry. Scope will also designate several key employees as consultants to the Cambridge Banking BPO Strategic Business Unit to assist in its formation and growth. All transaction processing staff will be Cambridge employees.

During the first phase of the relationship, Scope will provide the infrastructure for about 50 seats in Chennai, India, with the intention to expand to around 350 seats. Night utilization of about 1,000 to 1,500 seats will be considered as the next step.

Currently, about 80 percent of the world's large banks have outsourced operations, while only 50 percent of midsize and smaller banks are benefiting from this trend, according to a study by Deloitte. In the last four years, financial services firms have reduced their expenses by $8-$12 billion through outsourcing and offshoring, saving an average of 37 percent of each process outsourced. These savings are critical as banks struggle with cost pressures such as technology investments to merge disparate systems resulting from multiple acquisitions, compliance with new regulatory requirements, and the migration to more online banking processes.