(17 November 2006 – Australia) Westpac has said it will not move back office operations offshore for the time being.The bank issued a statement saying it had decided against moving its transactions and unsecured lending businesses offshore.
Westpac said a review found that moving certain back office functions offshore did not meet financial and stakeholder criteria.
But Westpac went on to say that it would continue to look for efficiencies, ‘which may include accessing the skills of global services companies’.
‘Westpac recognises that it must remain as efficient and competitive as possible given that some of the world’s biggest banks now operate in the Australian financial services market,’ the bank said.
Westpac said customer data would always remain in Australia.