NAB denies Accenture talks

National Australia Bank has dismissed as "incorrect" rumours that technology services giant Accenture was making a pitch to replace disgraced Indian competitor Satyam in the bank's operations.

NAB is not in discussion with Accenture in view of the Satyam work.

NAB spokesperson

"NAB is not in discussion with Accenture in view of the Satyam work. Any claim that it is, is incorrect," an NAB spokesperson said last week. The bank has suspended future work with Satyam due to uncertainty about the Indian firm's future following gross mismanagement.

Several ZDNet.com.au readers had named Accenture as a potential replacement, but NAB maintained the work would be carried out by its own internal staff.

Benny, a "big German" Accenture executive, had been putting the hard word on NAB senior executives to take over the work, one reader claimed. "Accenture is waiting in the wings," another added. "Accenture senior guys have been all over NAB executives since Satyam's troubles came to light."

Accenture refused to deny or confirm the claim. "We don't discuss work we're bidding for," a spokesperson said.

The bank has retained Satyam for contracts that were signed in 2007 and 2008.

Accenture has had a finger in NAB's technology pie for three years via an offshoring deal in which the bank relocated 81 back office roles within its finance department to Accenture's Indian operations in Bangalore.

NAB, in July last year, commenced a review to explore opportunities to offshore more work to India to cut its technology costs, which at last count had increased substantially.

The July review aimed to assess the viability of sending 171 local positions to its Indian facilities, adding to the 264 maintenance and support roles that were sent there in March. Satyam's fellow Indian outsourcing giant, Infosys, also shares NAB's Indian workload with Satyam.