Workers at Resolution in Glasgow were told of the outsourcing

Resolution which manages funds for Scottish Mutual, Scottish Provident and Phoenix Life Assurance, has unveiled a deal with Capita.

Under the agreement, 2,000 staff will transfer to the giant Capita group.

Customer service and IT positions will remain in the UK but 'back office work' will be outsourced to India.

More than 1,500 staff are based in St Vincent Street and Bothwell Street, Glasgow and about 450 staff are located in Wythall, Birmingham.

Resolution bought Scottish Mutual Assurance, Scottish Provident and Abbey National Life from Abbey last year after the UK banking giant's Spanish owners, Grupo Santander, decided to offload its life fund businesses.

Unite is deeply disappointed by Resolution's decision to off-shore a significant number of jobs to India Daryl Williams Unite's regional officer

One Resolution worker told the BBC Scotland news website that there was little surprise at the latest move.

She said: "We knew something was coming. All of the managers were called away yesterday, presumably to be briefed on today's announcement."

Unite, which was formed when Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union merged, represents many of the affected workers.

Daryl Williams, Unite's regional officer, said: "Unite is deeply disappointed by Resolution's decision to off-shore a significant number of jobs to India.

"We welcome any serious attempts to redeploy staff and see no need for compulsory redundancies.

"The union is committed to defending members' terms and conditions and job security. We also welcome some of the commitments the company have made on pensions."

Very buoyant

Capita said that the transfer of services was expected to start on 1 August.

Paul Pindar, Capita's chief executive, said: "We look forward to working with Resolution to deliver high quality outsourced support, allowing them to concentrate on growing their core business."

Mike Biggs, group chief executive at Resolution, said: "We chose Capita because we believe that they can best deliver a business transformation programme designed to increase the quality and dependability of our services to customers."

A spokesman for Scottish Enterprise Glasgow said that in a global market, corporate takeovers and mergers were "a reality" but overall he said "the financial services sector in Glasgow remains very buoyant".

Glasgow Chamber of Commerce's chief executive Dr Lesley Sawers said: "We wait to see what the outcome of Resolution's move will be."