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Experimental approach to app development... Westpac CIO Clive Whincup.

A little more like Google, a little less like a bank, say chiefs.

Despite cutting several hundred jobs and being accused of planning to offshore the majority of its IT operation, Westpac technology chiefs say the development of new mobile applications and innovative solutions for the banking group must be handled in-house.

Chief information officer Clive Whincup and chief technology officer Jeff Jacobs used a technology media briefing last week in Sydney to unveil two new iPad apps developed in Australia by a team of about 50 staff. The team, comprised primarily of former St George Bank developers and additional personnel, bases app features on insights garnered from consumer and user behavioural research.

The Broker App is to be used by mortgage brokers to evaluate customer's eligibility for loans and to calculate repayments, while Tabula is exclusively for the use of board members now that the banking group no longer issues paper documents ahead of board meetings.

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Westpac chief technology officer Jeff Jacobs.

"We've grown the team quite rapidly with our own staff. We're not relying on contractors. We think a lot of the innovation comes from the intimacy between the developer and the business community and the customer workshops we run. You can't get that when you ship (a brief) overseas," he said.

Westpac axed around 150 IT jobs in January and March, after sending roles offshore. According to the Finance Sector Union, since 2007, more than 6200 jobs have been relocated offshore by Australian banks and financial companies.

But only last week, Westpac-owned St George reneged on a plan to outsource another 200 IT jobs to IBM, the leading outsourcing vendor in Australia, according to Gartner.

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Westpac to develop technology in-house

Australian shares rise as surveys showing a lead in opinion polls for Greece's pro-bailout camps help calm eurozone turmoil fears and ease risk aversion.

1.03pm: A look around the region shows our market is today's star performer, with many others posting losses:

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12.56pm: The Australian dollar is trading at 98.50 US cents, its highest level in almost a week as hopes grow that Greece will elect a pro-bailout party on June 17 and stay in the eurozone.

CMC markets foreign exchange dealer Tim Waterer says the gains made by the pro-bailout parities gave the market a reason to be optimistic:

12.49pm: And unions are echoing the administrator, saying they are scrambling to secure work for about 2000 plumbers and electricians expected to lose their jobs after engineering company Hastie Group was placed in administration.

Communications Electrical Plumbing Union national secretary Peter Tighe said most of the employees whose positions were in jeopardy were contracted to construction projects still in progress around the country.

Union leaders are hoping workers will be able to continue in the current roles under different contracts.

The works got to be finished, Mr Tighe said. What we normally do is well go to the principal contractor and argue that our boys should stay on for the duration of the project."

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Markets Live: Stocks rise on Greek hopes

Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas.

QANTAS chief Alan Joyce has sought to allay fears about the split of its international flying operations from the domestic business, insisting that the benefits will "greatly outweigh" any negatives, such as duplication of services across the two new units.

As it attempts to turn around the international operations, Mr Joyce also confirmed at the weekend that the airline has a project team considering whether to apply for a separate commercial airline licence - known as an air operator's certificate - for one of the two new divisions.

Deutsche Bank analysts have speculated that the split could open the way for Emirates to invest directly in Qantas' domestic business, the core of its earnings. The Middle Eastern airline has shown interest in forging a code-share deal with Qantas.

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But Qantas has maintained that the split is aimed at "giving accountability and direction" to the new divisions, and was not a precursor to it copying Virgin Australia's recent ownership changes. Virgin's shake up has opened the way for foreign institutional investors and airlines to invest in its core domestic business.

The Qantas Sale Act, which limits total foreign investment to 49 per cent, is also more onerous than those restrictions imposed on other airlines such as Virgin, a point Qantas has made many times.

"There is a lot of speculation about other reasons. To be absolutely clear, the reason why we are doing this is to give an open and transparent view of the different businesses Qantas has," Mr Joyce said. "There is no subtext behind this."

Insiders have also questioned whether the split will result in unnecessary duplication of services across the international and domestic businesses, or managers protecting their patches to the detriment of the entire company.

But Mr Joyce said the domestic and international flying operations already had "very different and separate businesses internally", including their own revenue management and pricing teams.

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Mostly benefits in Qantas split, says Joyce

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