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Lloyds survey fuels anti-BPO wave

31 May 2004 | (Survey)

A survey conducted by the UK-based research agency Mori on behalf of the unions of Lloyds TSB Group has concluded that half of the bank's customers would consider moving their accounts to a different one if they discovered the calls were being managed from India.

The unions conducted the survey after Lloyds announced its decision to move 1,500 UK jobs offshore. There were reports that the bank's general insurance operation in Newport was to lose 150 jobs this year, as posts were being transferred to India.

The survey asked people how they would react if their bank moved work connected with the management of their account to India.
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In Wales, 49 per cent of respondents had said such a move would make them more likely to consider moving to another bank. A total of 39 per cent had said the move would make no difference.

BPO industry sources described the result of the survey as disturbing as it would deal a blow to further movement of jobs to India.

"If transferring work to India was unpopular, customers companies would be forced to rethink their decisions," sources said.

Further, if the UK managed to bring in the new law of revealing identity and nationality -- the Indian BPO industry could be witnessing a negative trend, the source added.

Sources also said that the Mori research indicated that banks could increase their customer base by keeping their jobs in their home town.

The Lloyds group, however, had said the result of the survey was hardly surprising because of the style of the questioning. Rephrasing the questions in a different way would lead to most customer saying they were unaffected.

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