WNS global to recruit CIMA professionals to UK

by Hiran H. Senewiratne

UK based WNS Global Services, a leading Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) entity is in the process of negotiating with CIMA-Sri Lanka to recruit accountancy professionals to provide finance, accounting and other professional services to the AVIVA Group in UK.

AVIVA Group, the largest insurance company in the United Kingdom is among the top five in the world with more than Sterling Pounds 240 billion in assets and a customer base exceeding 30 million.

"This would be an unique opportunity for Sri Lanka accountancy professionals to get the international exposure,'' Group Executive Director - AVIVA and Chief Executive - Norwich Union General Insurance Patrick Snowball said.

He said that WNS expanded its operations in Sri Lanka mainly to leverage the availability of highly skilled talent pool in the professional domains. All WNS Sri Lankan staff trained in Britain or possess internationally accepted accountancy qualification, he said.

WNS Sri Lanka staff has grown from 42 employees to 250 within 12 months and expected to increase to 300 before this year. India and Sri Lanka will be considered as one operational body, Snowball said.

He also said that the company is expected to expand its recruitments to legal professionals as well. Employees go through a comprehensive training programme that includes a compulsory training period in the UK and customised training programme that uses novel training methods. UK staff wants to transfer their knowledge with Sri Lanka, he said.

The company turnover is Sterling Pound 7 billion out of which the company spends nearly Sterling Pound 3 billion for training and development of staff.

Group CEO, WNS Global Services Neeraj Bhargava said that the BPO industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India. It has created a phenomenon employment opportunity. People working in the industry get global exposure, work on world class technology in state of the art facilities and absorb best practices in HR and quality that are now exemplary for other industries. "These benefits could act as a catalyst for growth in the Sri Lankan economy,".