Services Offshoring
Study of offshoring in the financial industry by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

(Excerpt)
Trends in financial services point to the ability of financial services companies in scaling its actual operations, and offshoring multiple functions, with a shift toward captive operations and captive/outsourced hybrids. The industry as a whole can treble cost-savings from its offshore operations.

Two key tactics are being deployed by financial institutions to improve their efficiency 1) re-engineering onshore business processes; and 2) moving parts of the business to lower-cost locations offshore.

The opening up of Asian markets is more likely to fuel the trend in offshoring. Offshore operations give financial services companies a foothold in new and emerging markets where revenue opportunities maybe more lucrative than mature markets in their home base.
The offshore boom and search for suitable countries has led to expansion in the Philippines. The Philippines is the third largest English-speaking nation in the world (after the US and the UK). Filipino IT professionals are highly trainable with a typical learning curve of 6 to 8 weeks. The Philippines also has the largest pool of high quality accountants in Asia. During the first quarter of 2005, there were about 113,300 licensed accountants in the country, recognized as “among the best in the world.” Schools in the Philippines produce more than 100, 000 graduates in finance, accounting, and management every year, and that number is rising.