Mahesh Sharma and Michael Sainsbury | August 07, 2008
NATIONAL Australia Bank is likely to send more of its 2600 information technology jobs offshore, following a major restructure of its IT services group to support its $1 billion core banking overhaul.
The bank has selected software maker Oracle for the first phase of its technology revamp, and over the next five years it will deliver a platform for a new direct banking service, Star Bank.And in an internal memo leaked to The Australian, NAB technology staff were told yesterday the bank will combine its Enterprise Services Technology (EST) and Technology Banking Australia (T-BA) as part of the project.
The combined division will house about 1300 staff, half of NAB's overall IT workforce, taking effect from August 18, and the integration will be bedded down over the next couple of months.
"We're going to form the hub of how we're going to support the new platform going forward," NAB's chief information officer Michelle Tredenick told The Australian.
"We can start focusing on supporting our existing platforms and our new platforms out of this new hub. It also frees up some of our most talented people and our senior resources, across our existing work and new work."
However, Ms Tredenick refused to comment on whether the bank would send more jobs offshore as part of the restructure.
"It's hard to tell at the moment, it's a five-year journey," she said.
She confirmed that NAB would be sending some more of its technology platforms and systems offshore as part of its core banking overhaul.
Ms Tredenick recently told staff the bank would ramp up its offshoring initiatives with Indian outsourcers Satyam and Infosys.
"Yes, we will be, (but) not immediately," she said. "We already have some offshore work for our existing systems and we would expect our new systems will continue to have that mix of work.
"This is a really different type of technology and will require different skills and different access to different labour markets.
"It's highly likely this will create jobs as well because we'll be working with our suppliers to establish an Australian presence."