Scope International, the offshore services subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank, UK, and Cambridge Integrated Services, the business process outsourcing (BPO) arm of Scandent Solutions have agreed to form what the two companies say a “knowledge partnership” for targeting banking and financial sector worldwide, with a primary focus on the U.S., European and Australasian markets.

While the offshore services subsidiaries of companies such as GE and British Airways operating out of India (like Scope), have become independent entities for reasons of growth, many others are continuing to serve their parents. The Standard Chartered subsidiary has taken a third path—that of partnership with an independent firm. Though the detail terms have not been revealed, a joint release says that “all transaction processing staff will be Cambridge employees.”

During the first phase of the relationship, Scope will provide the infrastructure for about 50 seats in Chennai, India, with the intention to expand to around 350 seats. Night utilization of about 1,000 to 1,500 seats will be considered as the next step, according to the announcement. Scope will also designate several key employees as consultants to the Cambridge Banking BPO Strategic Business Unit to assist in its formation and growth.

Cambridge will leverage its entire global sales and marketing collectively to drive this business forward. In addition, Cambridge will directly interface with all customers and be responsible for all service level agreements (SLAs) and statements of work (SOW), as well as providing the sales and delivery engines which will be supported by Scope’s superior knowledge in the banking industry.

Scope International offers a range of services in transaction processing for wholesale and consumer banking. In the last four years, Scope has supported all 56 countries where the Standard Chartered Group has a presence. Cambridge, now headquartered out of Bangalore, India, also has delivery facilities in Bangalore.