FSA Report Of Overseas Call Centres Offers Mixed Findings |
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 The Financial regulator went to India to look at that country's much-criticised call centres and found standards higher than in the UK. It did warn against the risk of financial fraud, however.
The survey comes only weeks after 16 employees of Indian offshore provider Mphasis were arrested in connection with bank fraud. The suspects have been charged with stealing money from customers of Citigroup, a major client of Mphasis. Initial police inquiries carried out in early April suggested that employees involved in the fraud had stolen approximately $350,000 between February and March 2005. Further investigations have suggested the scale of the theft could be considerably larger.
The watchdog said: "[The main risk of offshoring is] the complexity of achieving suitable management oversight and control from a distance." It said UK companies using offshore strategies have formal oversight structures, but offshoring greater volumes and more complex functions will affect a company's risk profile, particularly in relation to operational risks. This could affect customer service and consumer protection, particularly in relation to financial fraud.
UK industry body, the National Outsourcing Association, hit back in a statement in which it said: "Indian workers are no less ethical than UK workers: media hype over offshore security breaches is generally unfounded."
The FSA report also expressed concern at the level of attrition in India, and found that during the early stages of offshoring, it was difficult to find acceptable candidates for managerial positions because salary expectations were on a par with those of their UK counterparts.
Despite the concerns, the FSA survey was generally positive about the security provisions made by UK firms in India. "We listened to calls at most locations and were impressed by the calibre of staff. Not only were they clear in speaking, they also possessed the necessary skills and technical expertise to handle enquiries quickly and efficiently& Companies have implemented systems to monitor phone conversations, protect data, and monitor staff. There is no evidence to suggest consumer data is at greater risk in India than in the UK," it concluded.
Similarly, it is complimentary about the back-office activities. The report adds: "In most situations the back-office processing was exceeding the standards set for similar operations in the UK."
Despite the warnings in the FSA report, the banks and insurers that already have overseas call centres declared that they were happy with its findings.
Ian Thompson, the operations director of Lloyds TSB, says: "This investigation shatters the myth that service suffers if you move offshore. It endorses what we have said all along that if you go about it in a well thought out way it is possible to deliver good quality service to customers."
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