Over 100,000 financial services jobs will be transferred offshore from the UK by 2010, according to human capital management consultancy, Penna Meridian.
It also claims AXA will have moved 1,600 jobs to India by the end of 2005 and Prudential has already transferred 600 jobs there.
Human Capital Management Consultancy business director Linda Jackson said: "It must be very tempting for firms to jump on the outsourcing bandwagon, but with so many organisations doing so, it is hard to believe that there will continue to be sufficient numbers of people with the right skills.
"Outsourcing will work for repetitive transactions, but it is not necessarily a good idea for call centres. Firms should ask themselves how much quality control they will really have over these outsourced employees, who will be talking directly to hard won customers. Political instability could also add to the risk factor.
"It is also hard to believe that highly skilled individuals will really be prepared to work permanent night shifts - turnover is apparently appallingly high.
"Cultural differences must be a factor in the success or failure of such operations...Such cost cutting measures are understandable in an economic downturn, but with the economy now on the turn, companies will begin to focus once more on revenue generation and there will be less pressure on margin. Time will tell whether this turns out to be a winning formula for Aviva."
