Will Australia's largest bank utilize India's job market?

Australia's largest bank is looking to shift as many as 424 domestic jobs to India in its intention to minimize costs, said Australia's Finance Sector Union.

According to a spokesman for Melbourne-based National Australia, Geoff Lynch, a review of jobs has started but it was premature to speculate how many might be moved. The jobs in lending services, direct sales and customer service "deal with a range of highly sensitive personal data including credit and lending details, account details and personal information,"said Paul Schroder, national secretary of the union, in a statement today.

CEO, John Stewart, cut employee numbers to 39,062 in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 as National Australia reined in costs to help regain slumping profit growth. Operating expenses fell 4.4 percent in 2006 from a high 7.2 percent in fiscal 2005.

The bank's review follows a decision at the end of 2006 to move 175 data, administration and processing jobs to Accenture, the world's second-largest consultant and Genpact, a computer services company in India. The bank is likely to shift more jobs overseas. "We are calling on National Australia to weigh up the reputation risks associated with this pursuit of low-cost labor offshore,"said Schroder, whose union represents some bank workers. The latest review is being done by Genpact, he said.

National Australia looks to utilize the job market in India to maintain financial stability and profit growth. What would this mean for India? Will the bank shift more jobs to other less developed economies in Asia like India? The search for lower cost of labor in Asia may be beneficial financially for the banking giant but will it do so at the expense of its reputation? Your thoughts