HSBC to move 4,000 UK jobs to India, Malaysia
REUTERS[ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2003 09:09:57 AM ]
LONDON: Global banking giant HSBC Holdings Plc said on Thursday it would move 4,000 UK call centre and back-office processing jobs mainly to India and Malaysia but also to China over the next 2-1/2 years.
The group, which owns a major retail bank in the UK, said the moves were aimed at staying competitive.
"Every effort will be made to accomplish the changes without involuntary redundancies but it will not be possible to avoid these entirely," it said in a statement.
HSBC joins a line of firms, including insurer Aviva , telecoms firm BT Group Plc and retailer Tesco in switching jobs to Asia to take advantage of a relatively cheap, skilled English-speaking work force there.
UK financial workers union UNIFI said it would fight the bank's plans, which it said represented the biggest ever single export of finance jobs from the UK to Asia, and was prepared to take industrial action if necessary.
"The gloves are off," said UNIFI official Rob O'Neill. |
