LONDON: More than 100,000 British financial services jobs are likely to be lost to overseas locations, such as India and China, as insurers and banks struggle to cut costs. An official for the financial services consultancy Troika said up to 20,000 jobs had already been moved to India, or less than 5 per cent of back-office staff in life and pensions, general insurance, retail and investment banking and mortgage and credit-card processing.

At least 40,000 jobs in the life and pensions and general insurance industries and 60,000 in banking are likely to be moved abroad within five to seven years, he said.Coupled with the advent of cheap global communications and the emergence of skilled workers in developing nations, the temptation for companies to shift jobs abroad was high. More efficient processes are likely to include outsourcing and off-shoring to India and South Africa, where costs are roughly £ 10 per policy, as opposed to £ 30 plus in the UK.

The prediction comes just days after Ms Patricia Hewitt, Trade and Industry Secretary, said it was important to avoid protectionism on job transfers. She spoke amid controversy over the Lloyds TSB bank shifting 750 full-time jobs from Newcastle to India. — PTI