Prudential, Britain's second-biggest insurer, said that 3,000 jobs, including 1,250 positions in India, would be transferred to British outsourcing company Capita in a bid to save costs.
"Capita has committed that all employees affected will be offered roles on their existing terms and conditions of employment," a joint statement said. Prudential said the proposed 15-year agreement with Capita would enable it to achieve its overall cost saving target of 195 million pounds (273 million euros, 402 million dollars) per year by the end of 2010.
The agreement meanwhile allows Capita to acquire business and assets from Prudential for 25 million pounds, including part of PPMS, Prudential's offshore operation based in Mumbai. PPMS employs 1,800 staff in total.
"The agreement with Capita is another significant milestone in our programme to deliver continued superior performance and profitability in our UK business," Prudential UK chief executive Nick Prettejohn said in the statement. "We have set out very clear priorities for the business and this agreement helps us to deliver our strategy by removing fixed costs from our operations and achieving significant operating efficiencies," he added. Some 1,750 of the 3,000 positions transferred to Capita are based in Britain.