The practice of processing customer data at offshore sites came under fire last week after a security breach at HSBC’s Bangalore facility led to a reported £233,000 being stolen from UK customers.

An HSBC spokesman confirmed the bank had commenced legal action against an employee who had passed customer information to fraudsters, and said it would “pursue a conviction as aggressively as possible”. He added that the fraud had been detected by HSBC’s security procedures and that all affected customers had been informed and reimbursed.

However, the incident is likely to increase pressure on HSBC and other UK firms to reassess offshore security processes, as reports claimed the employee had used false records to obtain the job.

Sunil Mehta, vice-president of Indian IT trade body Nasscom, said security breaches are not unique to India and that the country is acting to reduce the risk. He added that Nasscom is working with the Indian government to train police to tackle computer crime and set up a national registry of suitable staff.

Martyn Hart of the National Outsourcing Association agreed that corrupt employees can be found anywhere in the world. But he suggested that the relatively low wages of Indian workers could make them a target for criminal gangs looking to bribe staff for data.