US bank to move tech jobs to India

NEW YORK: Wachovia Corp., the No. 4 U.S. bank, said it will outsource some technology work to India, resulting in U.S. job losses.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Wachovia informed employees about the plan in conference calls on Tuesday, spokeswoman Christy Phillips said. The affected group employs about 3000 people who work on matters affecting all areas of the company.

Wachovia said it plans to outsource an unspecified number of jobs to as many as three companies: IBM and Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., and Indian software services company, Infosys Technologies Ltd. All the outsourced work will be performed in India.

"We've identified certain applications, development and maintenance work that we will transition to offshore vendors," Phillips said. "We will not transition them immediately."

The Charlotte Observer earlier reported the outsourcing.

The outsourcing is part of Wachovia's plan, announced in January, to cut up to 4000 jobs, or 4 percent of its workforce, to help save up to $1 billion a year by 2007.

These job cuts are on top of the roughly 4300 jobs that Wachovia said it would eliminate in connection with its November purchase of SouthTrust Corp.