Amex on the Defensive about Offshore Plans

The financial services firm may move up to 70% of its development work offshore, sources say

Despite a denial by American Express Co., sources familiar with the company's IT planning insist that it has an internally stated goal to shift a major portion of its software development to offshore locations.

The sources said that New York-based Amex plans to move as much as 70% of development work offshore. That shift is an ongoing business objective, they said.

An Amex spokesman this week dismissed the 70% figure and denied that the financial services company is making any fundamental shift in the amount of development work it sends offshore. But one former Amex IT worker, who said he left the company because he disagreed with the offshore policy, hotly disputed that.

"They tell [the media] one thing and tell us another. I've seen it. I was there," the former employee said. "I was the guy training these [offshore-worker] greenhorns. They're asking me to transfer my skills to someone making $4 an hour."

The sources were unable to say what portion of the company's development work is currently handled offshore, and Amex declined to comment, citing a policy against disclosing such information. What's clear is that some IT employees within Amex are disturbed by what they understand to be a major offshore shift.

"They qualify as one of the Benedict Arnold companies exporting jobs overseas that [presidential candidate] John Kerry has been talking about," said a current Amex employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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