UK bank Lloyds TSB said on November 17, it is to close an office of its mortgage provider, Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G), and move about 300 jobs to India.
Lloyds said it would close the C&G mortgage administration and customer service site near Warwick by the end of 2006 and transfer the work to two other UK sites and India, where the bank has already transferred 2,000 jobs.
"We operate in a fiercely competitive environment, and it is vital that we find ways of running our business effectively and competitively in order to continue to invest in the services and products we provide to our customers," said Mike Mitchell, mortgage and customer services director at C&G. The centre employs 350 people, and Lloyds said it would aim to redeploy them across the group. Lloyds TSB Group Union said the bank had admitted that "redundancies will be necessary" and slammed the transfer of more jobs to India, where the bank could employ staff for one-sixth of the UK salary.