ANZ outsources IT testing to Capgemini

Capgemini to absorb 360 bank staff.

ANZ will consolidate 40 outsourcing deals and transfer 360 staff to Capgemini under a new managed services agreement for IT testing and environment management.

The bank this afternoon informed 110 testing services staff in Melbourne and 250 in Bangalore that they would be moved to “comparable roles with Capgemini with comparable entitlements” in those cities.

An ANZ spokesman told iTnews that it would implement the new arrangement in stages, with the move to be completed by the year’s end.

ANZ chief information officer Anne Weatherston said it needed the Capgemini partnership to “support change for approximately 800 applications and more than 280 projects at a pace that we cannot achieve alone”.

By transferring staff to Capgemini, ANZ noted that there would be “no job losses among permanent employees”.

But a spokeswoman for the Finance Sector Union told iTnews that affected workers were concerned over job security.

“The initial reaction from workers appears to be about job security,” she said, noting that today’s IT job cuts came on top of an earlier decision to shed 1000 roles elsewhere in the bank.

“These workers made a choice to work for ANZ – an iconic, successful, profitable company. Now through no fault of their own, they are being asked to work for a global conglomerate.”

ANZ’s spokesman noted that affected staff could apply for any internal vacancies but their internal IT testing services roles would no longer be available by the year’s end.

The agreement is subject to final contract negotiations and the approval of financial services regulator APRA.

ANZ hoped the new contract would help accelerate the rollout of technology to support its ‘Super Regional’ strategy.

“As part of ANZ’s 2017 technology roadmap, we need to continue to access increasingly scarce IT skills to deliver major projects and ongoing business requirements,” Weatherston stated.

“Building a hybrid technology delivery model will help us achieve this by matching our internal capabilities with partnerships with best-in-class technology vendors such as Capgemini.”