Financial services companies could treble savings offshore

Financial services companies are capturing less than one-third of the
potential cost savings offered by offshoring operations, according to a survey
by Deloitte.

The study found that high performing financial institutions offshore 6.7% of
their global headcounts, well ahead of the average 3.5%. Deloitte said that if
all surveyed companies that offshore were to reach this ‘best practice’
headcount then they could reduce their collective annual cost base by $16bn
(£9.3bn) – more than tripling their current reported savings of $5bn.

Deloitte also found that UK financial services firms are achieving higher
cost savings through offshoring than their global counterparts, with average
cost savings of about 47%. This is some 10% higher than the global average. UK
organisations also offshore an average of three functions, and most are rapidly
increasing their offshore headcount.

India remains the dominant offshore location, with 100% of respondents having
an Indian presence. Some 40% of UK operators have a second centre in a location
other than India, including China, Canada, South Africa and Singapore.

Deloitte argues that globally too few financial services companies are fully
committed to entering into outsourcing arrangements.

Chris Gentle, director in financial services at Deloitte and author of the
study, said: ‘Offshore operations that aggressively expand their scope and scale
typically deliver much higher returns.

‘Financial institutions that make a half-hearted attempt at offshoring are
exposed to all of the risk, while enjoying only some of the benefits. The
message is clear: don’t dabble – stay home if you’re not committed.’