Fears that banking giant HSBC will offshore more UK jobs to Asia have been raised after its chief operating officer revealed plans to double the bank’s back-office workforce abroad.
Alan Jebson told reporters in Asia that he had a target to save more than $1bn (£518m) between now and December 2007, and was speeding up the move to offshore, reports The Guardian.
The bank has already announced 4,500 job cuts by 2006 as a result of offshoring, with half of these already achieved.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
Finance union Amicus, which represents HSBC staff, has expressed concern at the announcement.
HSBC currently has 13,000 employees in 10 locations around Asia, but a company spokesperson said that the remarks should not be interpreted to mean that further UK jobs were about to be offshored.
