Leading Australian insurer QBE has reprotedly shifted 100 IT jobs to India, according to the Finance Sector Union.

“Information Technology workers are the latest casualties in QBE’s war on Australian workers, with 100 IT jobs to be scrapped as part of the insurer’s aggressive offshoring agenda,” said a Finance Sector Union statement released recently.

“QBE has announced that over 100 jobs currently performed in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia will now be done by workers based in India,” it said.

This latest announcement follows revelations earlier this year that QBE is offshoring 700 insurance jobs, including claims lodgement, management and reinsurance administration, to the Philippines.

The Company had informed its staff that it planned to move 100 IT jobs to India, including systems analysts, systems administrators, support staff and about 36 developers.

A further 35 IT workers face a change to their reporting lines or roles.

QBE employed a total of 338 IT workers in NSW, QLD, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia before the current round of job cuts.

As of February, the Company employed about 700 staff in Manila and Bangalore, a media report in an online publication, iTnews, said, adding that the job-cut announcements were part of a broader, global operational transformation programme, expected to cut $ 250 million in costs by 2015.

“There are a range of initiatives connected with the transformation programme and we are working with a number of external parties on these,” a QBE Australia spokeswoman was qouted as saying.

She added, “We are doing this to improve our service offerings and reduce operating costs to sustainable levels.

“Simplification, standardisation and ongoing operational excellence are essential if we are to remain competitive and if insurance is to be affordable for the community”.

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