Lloyds TSB - (Various Bits)

IBM and Lloyds TSB sign outsourcing contract worth nearly $1 Billion IBM (Edited press release)

IBM has signed a seven-year deal with Lloyds TSB to enhance the bank’s voice and data services. The outsourcing deal is estimated to be worth nearly $1 Billion, and calls for IBM to build a network to accommodate approximately 70,000 VoIP telephone sets and unite voice, video, and data traffic onto a single network with direct links to mobile and call center services. Lloyds TSB’s Director-IT, Igor Andronov, expects the project to increase the company’s cost efficiency, enhance the flexibility of its IT infrastructure, and help the staff to be more responsive to customer needs. IBM said the implementation would be the largest combined network of its type ever undertaken in Europe.

Anti-Outsourcing Legislation unlikely as Offshoring gains impetus Frost & Sullivan (Edited Press Release)

Frost & Sullivan analysts recently completed a study tracking the offshore outsourcing of IT jobs for the period 2002 to 2004. Their conclusions were reached through a combination of primary research in 14 countries and quantitative data obtained from end-user surveys of IT decision-makers in France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the US. Offshoring IT jobs to lower cost countries is now regarded as essential in industries where ones competitors are doing so, because contracting with offshore service providers affords a company the flexibility to adjust its personnel strength to meet business requirements at a lower cost and often with a higher level of expertise. An analysis of the market reveals that if a company based in a country without legislative restrictions regarding the exportation of IT jobs sells its products and services in a country that has such restrictions, the company not limited by such legislation will possess a distinct market advantage. "In effect, therefore, the nation that places restrictions on the export of IT jobs will hobble its own businesses and could be inadvertently legislating the destruction of millions of additional jobs in the future as a result," cautions Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Jarad Carleton. "This is crucial to understanding why the exportation of IT jobs to lower cost countries cannot be arbitrarily halted by legislation in one or two developed countries." To be effective, any such legislation to protect IT jobs in the developed regions of the world would require the unlikely scenario of a global alliance of developed governments working in concert. Further, Mr. Carleton goes on to state that, “Multinational corporations can and will use offshore subsidiaries to circumvent the law in other parts of the world when profitability is at stake, provided executives cannot be held legally liable in the home country.” And there we have it, your not happy well they shall ignore your complaints in the sure knowledge that the great unwashed public, the vast majority of us plebs are to lazy or apathetic to do anything to stop this.

Dell planning to open campus in Hyderabad CIOL: Cyber India Online

The new campus, which will be Dell’s third in India, is expected to be completed by October 2005. Hyderabad has been home to a Dell customer contact center since March of 2003, and the company plans to move its entire customer support team from its current leased premises to the new campus. The new campus is to be built on 6.6 acres of land in the Hitech City, and will offer multiple services to include: sales, customer care, technical support, email support, and shared services with more functions to be added as needed in the future. Romi Malhotra, managing director for Dell India, states, “Building our own campus is a clear indication of Dell's long-term commitment to India and Hyderabad. The customer contact centers in India have transitioned into a premier operation for Dell.”

Lehman Brothers to have Captive Center in India CIOL: Cyber India Online

The leading investment bank has decided to join Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan by setting up its own captive offshore services facility in India. Lehman has chosen Mumbai as the location for the new center, and has already begun filling the top management positions for the operation. In the past, Lehman had outsourced some of its IT services to companies such as Wipro and TCS. Although it withdrew part of that work from Wipro earlier this year, Lehman’s decision to set up its own captive center reaffirms its faith in India. Anyway back to lloyds tsb and a lovely article I found in the Guardian some time back. Reading it even now makes me chuckle, and shows there is some justice in this unfair world... anyway the link is: http://money.guardian.co.uk/precipicebonds/story/0,14761,1261268,00.html (just copy and paste in your firefox search engine.) Record fine for Lloyds TSB FSA lands bank with £100m bill for mis-selling precipice bonds Jill Treanor Friday September 26, 2003 The Guardian Lloyds TSB was yesterday handed the largest ever fine -£1.9m - levied by the financial services authority for misselling financial products and was left with a bill of at least £98m to compensate customers who were incorrectly sold high risk bonds. It is the second high profile regulatory action against the bank in less than a year. Lloyds TSB received a £1m fine for the way its Abbey Life subsidiary sold endowment policies, which required compensation of as much as £160m. The FSA said the latest fine would have been higher if the bank had not cooperated with the inquiry. Even so, the regulator found the bank had failed to act with "due skill, care and diligence" in selling "precipice bonds" through its branch network. The regulator indicated that the action against Lloyds TSB was part of a wider investigation into precipice bonds, which were sold by other financial firms and through intermediaries. With new chief executive John Tiner at the helm, the FSA has made clear that it will take a stance to protect consumers. City sources regarded the size of the fine as evidence of this. It is the second only to the £4m paid by investment bank CSFB for lax management controls. The £1.9m fine against Lloyds TSB relates to 22,500 policies of the Scottish Widows extra income and growth plan sold through Lloyds TSB branches between October 2000 and July 2001. The products offered a high rate of income at 10.25% but did not protect the capital which was put at risk by investments in only 30 or so stocks such as Marconi and Colt Telecom. In November 2000 the Guardian's Jobs & Money section warned investors to avoid the products. The FSA did not criticise Lloyds TSB or its investment subsidiary, Scottish Widows, for the structure of the product. Instead, the regulator was concerned about the way it was sold. The regulator accused the bank of not having "rigorous procedures and controls" for selling the product, which meant it went to people who put too much of their money into it or to who were not used to investing in equities. Lloyds put too much pressure on staff to achieve sales targets rather than considering whether the product was appropriate for investors. The regulator noted that the mis-selling had taken place even though the bank had identified the potential risk of that occurring even before the product went on sale. Lloyds TSB was writing yesterday to the 22,500 policyholders covered by the FSA action. Some of them have already received compensation from Lloyds but can now expect to be given a top-up because of the terms of the settlement with the FSA. Lloyds had been settling with customers at a 3% rate of interest on the total amount of their investment while the FSA is requiring payment of 4.6% to 5.2%. Lloyds TSB, which took a £300m provision to cover potential redress for customers in the first half of the year, said it was sorry. The bank has already set aside at least £800m to cover pensions mis-sellling in the last five years. The bank's new chief executive, Eric Daniels, is changing the way it pays its staff, by putting less emphasis on sales of products, and is boosting its training programme. The financial ombudsman service has received 3,000 complaints about precipice bonds sold by the financial services industry and expects another 1,000. Lloyds has set up a customer line, 0800 828 4761, to deal with complaints. The toll September 2003 £1.9m fine and ordered to pay at least £98m in compensation for mis-selling high income bonds December 2002 £1m fine and up to £160m in compensation for the mis-selling of endowment policies by the Abbey Life subsidiary November 2000 £100,000 fine for not changing numbers on a safe often enough January 1999 £1.5m fine and compensation for the handling of unit trusts September 1998 £613,000 fine and compensation for the administration of unit trusts Ok and a cool review of their loans: link details for below: http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/loans/lloyds-tsb-loansdirect/378998/ Loans Directly Don't! Review from janesargeant about Lloyds TSB-loansdirect, 23.06.02 Author's product rating Advantages You get a loan Disadvantages high interest rates, bad customer service, ignore complaints Summary: Full review Last year I got 2 loans from Lloyds TSB’s Loans Direct one for £1000 and one for £3000. How I wish I had never bothered in the first place. The company has no sense of customer service as they ignore complaints or take too long to sort them out. I applied for these loans last year via their web site. The website suggests that it should only take 48hours for a decision of conformation. I sat and waited for 2 weeks and still no conformation on whether or not my first loan had been accepted. I decided to telephone the company and they confirmed that I had been successful with my application. No apologies or real explanations to why it had taken so long for them to make a decision. All I was told was these things happen. The same thing happened with my second loan, which after 3 weeks was also accepted. This didn’t please me at all but I didn’t complain because I had the loans that I needed at the time and I suppose I was grateful that they had accepted my application. On my third attempt, this year, to apply for a personal loan I was refused on acceptable basis but it took them 6 weeks to tell me. The problem was that I had moved from one address to another since my last loans and their computers were not up dated. I also bank with Lloyds TSB and it was supposed to be their job to notify Loans Direct of my address change but they didn’t on several occasions. I was left to contact various departments within the Lloyds TSB group to make sure they were faxing the information to departments properly. This should have been their job but it ended up being mine. Anyway the loan was refused and that was that. Last month I found my self to be in some financial difficulties which I am still in. As a result of this I found that I wouldn’t be able to pay for my loans for that month so I contacted the Loans Direct customer service department to discus my account. I asked if I could have a month off paying and it was agreed. I was prom ised a phone call from a different department to set up the arrangement. I never got that phone call so I again telephoned the loans direct company and asked what was going on. They told me that I had been misinformed and that somebody would contact me but it would take a few more days. So I waited and waited and nothing. The next thing I knew I had a letter from my bank explaining that Loans Direct had tried to take the direct debits from my bank account but they had to be returned due to insufficient funds ion my account. The bank charged me £60 for returning the direct debits. This angered me because it had been agreed that they wouldn’t take the money from my account. The next day I received a letter from loans direct explaining that they had tried and failed to take the direct debits from my account and that they would try again in 7 days. I wrote them a letter to explain that they had said I could have a month off paying but had ignored this request resulting in £60 charges from my bank. I also again forbid them to try and take this money from my account. I did get a response to this letter but I was told only that they were dealing with it. The next thing I knew I had another letter from my bank charging me again for another direct debit but for another company. This confused me because I had put money into my account to cover this. A look at my statement via internet banking confirmed that Loans direct had actual ignored my second request and successfully taking the money from my account. This again angered me because I now have been charged £90 altogether, so far, for their ignorance. I am still pending an explanation and a refund for these charges from Loans Direct but still nothing. I have told them that I want them to pay for the bank charges and refund the money, which they took from my account when it was agreed that they wouldn’t do it. The way I see it is that if you owe them money they are on your back all the time but if they owe you money you don’t hear from them at all. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to use this company at all. There lack of customer service is unbelievable and their whole attitude towards the customer is disgusting. Some of the staff were very abrupt and rude on the phone. The service I have received has been bad from the start and I would definitely never use them again. Recommend no Still raises a smile even now that article.

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