Banks no exception to offshoring trend

[Thom Little]

Bank of America Corp., the No. 2 bank by assets in the nation, has 1,500 employees in India who handle tasks from computer work to market research and the bank last week said it plans to grow there.

Wachovia Corp, the nation's No. 4 bank by assets, began shipping programming to India this summer and announced plans last month to start outsourcing to an Indian firm that does everything from bookkeeping to credit card processing.

A new report predicts the industry will move more than 20 percent of its costs offshore by 2010. That's up from less than 10 percent in 2006.

According to consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, the increase could mean that 2 million jobs are shifted to countries such as India from the United States, Europe and Asia by 2010.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NC_BANKS_OVERSEES_JOBS_NCOL-?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-12-11-13-48-56

[bluestateguy]

1. Yep

But remember, the people who don't say the Plege of Allegience in class are the real unpatriotic ones.

[Skittles]

2. they are soliciting people where I work to go to Brazil

to train them to take our jobs....I told them I am not a corporate whore, I won't do it

[napi21]

3. That's only one of the reasons I deal with a local bank.

The biggest reason I changed from one of the monsster banks was cost! It seemd like the Big Boys really only wanted the business from other large businesses, and they all but ignored the little guy.

I switched to a smaller local bank 4 years ago, and I've very happy. They have all the services I could ever want or need, but still do a lot of nice personal things for their small customers too.

I'll be sure to ask them if they've sent any jobs offshore, but somehow I doubt it. I think they only have 5-6 branches and only in our area. My checking account is free, I get gree billpay, and free checks. They offer all the other standard services, but I have no need for any of them, at least for now.

[Book Lover]

8. Same story here

I get all the benefits of a BofA or Wells Fargo or a Citibank, etc, but my bank has about 12 branches. They even advertise the president's email and direct phone!

[high density]

4. Competitive necessity my ass

This is all about shoring up big fat bonuses for the upper management and an extra penny or two on the dividend payout for stockholders.

[VegasWolf]

5. Amkerica is fucked. What in the world are our children going to

do for a job?

[havocmom]

6. If you apply for a mortgage, your info may be processed off shore

Some mortgage companies outsourceing too.

Oh, and google tax returns + outsoucing sometime, just to keep your blood pressure from falling into a normal range.

[0007]

7. Do these same banks have accounts in the Cayman Islands?

You know to avoid taxes!


The wealthy are double dipping
..and us peons paying the price?

[OneBlueSky]

9. there oughta be a law . . .

that protects American jobs from corporate offshoring . . . if a major company is incorporated in the US, and sells its goods to American customers, it has a duty to provide jobs for American workers . . . and not move offshore to avoid American taxes . . . it's a matter of ethics . . .

when corporations enjoy all of the benefits of being American companies but reject the responsibilities that should go along with them, it's definitely time for a change of major proportions . . . corporations are entities that should serve the people, not the other way around . . .

[AzDar]

10. That is spot on! Not to mention the fact that having all of Americans'

most sensitive info sent to foreign countries should be considered a threat to National Security. Jeebus!

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

11. How does this do anything except...

...encourage corporations to incorporate elsewhere?

[Buns_of_Fire]

12. My response would be, "Fine, let them."

Since many of the larger ones are gobbling up government services without paying their fair share of taxes anyway, would we be any worse off?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

13. But that doesn't accomplish the goal...

...of preventing offshoring. It simply accelerates it.

[Buns_of_Fire]

15. Nothing will PREVENT offshoring, given the current climate

Rescinding any tax breaks for doing so would slow it down, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. So yes, it might temporarily accelerate the problem.

But I think the mega-corps would soon see that they're killing the goose that's laying the golden parachutes (Metaphors by MixMaster). As has been said so many times here, what are they going to do when their primary market can no longer afford their products?

And when Lou Dobbs jumps on it (as he's been wont to do lately), let's see how many uber-patriots come out in droves to support their (now) unAmerican company who fled America-the-land-of-the-free-and-the-home-of the-brave because they didn't like employing Good Murkans?

[bleedingheart]

14. I really don't like the idea of my credit information going overseas

A friend of mine who rarely uses her credit cards just got a call two weeks ago about how someone in Malaysia was using her credit card. She is lucky...they didn't process them transactions and she canceled the account.

However....I can't help but wonder if my information is at the disposal of individuals in foreign countries and they sell my information elsewhere then who can I turn to??? If it was all kept within the US then I would feel comfortable that I would be somewhat protected by US law...but in these cases....who protects the consumer and punishes the jerks who perpetrate the crimes???