Deutsche Bank, one of the leading international financial service providers, plans to move almost half of its back-office jobs to India by the end of next year, according to a media report.
The bank's plan to move the jobs in its sales and trading operations is part of its reorganisation efforts that has already helped boost revenues by about £1.3 billion, the Financial Times reported.
Deutsche Bank intends to triple its global markets staff offshore to nearly 2,000. The bank is also looking to increase offshore research staff from 350 to 500, more than half the present global total of 900, it said.
The move comes as other big investment banks are also rushing to take advantage of the low cost of highly educated staff in India.
J P Morgan Chase hopes to hire 4,500 graduates in India in the next two years with the aim of transferring 30 per cent of back-office jobs at its investment bank offshore by the end of next year.
These moves highlight the shift in the use of offshore facilities from traditional areas such as information technology support and call centres to more high-value tasks.
About 15 per cent of operational staff in Deutsche's markets business are offshore and the bank plans to lift this to 40 to 50 per cent by the end of next year.
Other investment banks expanding offshore include UBS, which next month will open its first centre in Hyderabad with an initial capacity for 500 jobs. Lehman Brothers expects to double its numbers in India to 1,000 this year and Credit Suisse is also considering offshore expansion.Do you want to discuss stock tips? Do you know a hot one? Join the Stock Market Investments Discussion Group