No offshoring fears for Scots finance workers

London's finance workers may be nervous about their jobs disappearing to China and India, but recruiters say Scottish workers have no such fears.

In an otherwise bullish report on UK financial and business services, the respected Ernst & Young ITEM Club warned last month that competition from India in particular posed a threat to the UK's biggest industry.

But despite an ongoing review of its operations by Prudential - which could see up to 1,000 back office IT related jobs in its Stirling office transfer to Mumbai - recruiters north of the border downplayed the threat from the east.

Margaret Dyer of recruiters Joslin Rowe believes outsourcing jobs is not currently a factor for financial services firms in Scotland: "Our research shows that our clients are committed to growing their workforce in Scotland," she says.

Many financial services companies choose to locate in Scotland because property prices and salaries are generally lower than those in London and there is an existing pool of skilled workers.

Phil Notley, director of IT recruiter Cyberteam's Edinburgh office, says: "Most financial services companies will engage offshore resources in peak periods of work or on additional projects where the nature of the work is deemed more mundane - thus not asking their permanent resources to do this and risking them leaving for more exciting pieces of work.

"The general trend is that, whilst there are relationships with outsource and offshore companies, the investment and focus is on their own people."