Rhetoric by Westpac over ditching the offshoring of banking jobs in Australia turns out to be a qualified pledge. The bank's management suggested at this month's interim profit briefing that it would cease to contract work out, for example to India.In a memo to staff on Friday the bank's managing director, Gail Kelly, qualified the earlier commitment, the Herald Sun reported.Kelly told staff that the decision to "freeze" offshoring was made in light of the forecast rise in unemployment in Australia.She went on to explain that "implementing this decision will not be done in a black and white way, and there will be areas where we will still need to access specialist skills offshore - for example in technology and in wealth."The Australian reported yesterday that executives from Westpac's technology team were still seeking services providers in India.Westpac has already outsourced 450 back office roles to India, including mortgage processing activities, according to the Herald Sun.