Royal & Sun Alliance joins offshore exodus

Although the firm has yet to specify exactly which jobs will be affected, the move is part of a wider trend in the financial services market, with rival Aviva announcing similar plans last month.

RSA's Indian centre will be operated by Accenture, which already manages the company's IT systems.

Norwich Union, HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds TSB have all announced offshore outsourcing deals in the past, as firms battle to keep costs contained in a competitive market.

The National Outsourcing Association (NOA) says banks and insurers are recognising that as a means to stay competitive, offshoring is becoming a more and more attractive option.

But reports from research firm NelsonHall shows that the amount of jobs being offshored still represents just 1.4 per cent of the total service jobs in the UK.

The report also shows that 90 per cent of the processes that are offshored are simplistic low level back office work.