KENT Reliance Building Society is poised to employ more people in Bangalore than Chatham.

After a century of hiring staff almost exclusively from Medway and Kent, the society has revealed that within a few weeks its Bangalore payroll will exceed 46, the number now working at Sun Pier, Chatham.

After previously outsourcing processing work to an India-based firm, the society set up its own subsidiary, Easiprocess, in Bangalore last year.

Apart from processing Kent Reliance work, the company hopes to win contracts from other UK financial clients.

The society plans to extend its Indian activities further and is looking for another overseas site.

Staff numbers in the county have reduced dramatically over the past few years. As more work has gone to India, the need for home-grown workers has diminished.

The transfer of local branches and branch staff to agencies accelerated the trend.

The society’s long-term occupation of Sun Pier, the former headquarters of BBC Radio Kent, is now in doubt.

The prestige building is too big for the number of staff working there and society bosses are exploring alternative uses for the site, including riverside housing.

The mutual, which has enjoyed the fastest growth of any UK building society over the past five years, has been criticised for its jobs switch.

But bosses defend it on the grounds that it cuts the society’s cost base and enables it to give better rates to investors and borrowers. They also claim that it is almost impossible to find the right skills in the local workforce.

Most Indian employees are graduates, with some having a Masters in Business Administration.

Mike Lazenby, Kent Reliance’s outspoken chief executive who recently caused a stir at the Kent Business Awards by refusing to award an Innovation trophy because he said the finalists were not innovative enough, said: "The success of Easiprocess is displayed in its growth over the last 17 months."

Rob Procter, deputy chief executive, added: "Radicalism, innovation, new technology and off-shoring are the 21st century tools by which building societies are able to serve the needs of the disadvantaged and lower paid in our communities."

The revelation about staff numbers came as the society strengthened its links with the British Asian community. It recently sponsored the England U19 v India U19 Test Match at the St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury.

Easiprocess and the society also took part in a recent Asian Lifestyle Show held in Olympia.

Chatham-based communications manager Mandip Ghattaora said: "This was a great opportunity to demonstrate how much life has changed for what was once a traditional regional building society."