By Joe Bolger UP TO 15,000 well-paid City jobs could be lost to India over the next five years, according to research that gives warning of a willingness by firms to outsource complex roles to low-cost economies.
The displacement of between 10,000 and 15,000 financial services jobs by the end of the decade would add to the flood of low-skill call centre and back office administration jobs that have already been shifted abroad.
Over the past few years Indian companies have been gearing up to take on more profitable, highly send, analytical work, including financial modelling and actuarial services.
They want to tap into the $150 billion (£80 billion) market for analysis and research.
A total of 100,000 jobs will be lost to low-cost countries over the next five years, according to Troika, the financial services consultancy behind the research.
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Andrew Stewart, managing director of Troika, said: "There is a growing shift to look at offshoring more complex and high-paid roles - finance, research, human resources, marketing, actuarial and underwriting."
Indian companies are already providing research services to London-based stockbrokers and management consultancies, feeding into work done by equity research and economic research teams, and providing background industry analysis for consultants.
ICICI OneSource, the outsourcing unit of one of India's largest financial services groups, last year signalled its interest in building a presence in the lucrative research outsourcing market with the purchase of a majority stake in Pipal Research, a US-based research company that operates in India.
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But the outsourcers deny they are taking jobs at the top end of the market. They argue that outsourcing releases UK-based workers to generate more money by spending more time with clients.
The Corporation of London has denied that moves to take work offshore would pose a threat to the City.
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International Financial Services, London said this month that the market for financial services work done offshore would be worth $144 billion in 2005. Citing Deloitte, figures the financial services industry body said that this would represent a $71 billion saving on the cost of providing those services in the UK.
Outsourcing companies in India have benefited from a well-qualified and inexpensive pool of graduates.
The equivalent salary for a $100,000 Wall Street analyst would be about $30,000 in India.
