Australian banking and insurance group Suncorp is looking to transfer up to 250 back office processing jobs to Indian BPO firm Infosys as it focuses on growing its retail operations, according to press reports.
Up to 250 back office jobs - which include loan application processing and data entry - could be transferred to Infosys by 2011, according to a report by The Australian.
It is thought the Indian vendor would provide services using both on-shore and offshore resources. Sydney-based Perpetual will oversee some of the loan and data processing onshore.
But Suncorp says the job losses will be offset by the creation of 270 customer facing jobs over the next three years to support a $50 million investment in its retail branches in Queensland and Western Australia. The bank is also expanding its mortgage broker business in the southern states.
John Mulcahy, Suncorp CEO, told reporters that the bank expected no net job losses over the next three years, as outsourced back office jobs will be replaced by customer facing roles.
The move comes as Suncorp - the sixth largest bank in Australia - faces growing competition from the "big four" banks in the country - National Australia Bank, Westpac, the Commonwealth Bank and ANZ.
Earlier this year ANZ bank disclosed details of an automation drive that will see some of the 900 back-office jobs at its home loans unit offshored to its facility in Bangalore, India.