Nationwide commits to UK call centres

Nationwide has acted quickly to reassure members of its commitment to maintaining its UK call centres following Barclays Bank's announcement that it is to close its Manchester-based Barclaycard call centre and relocate to India.

Britain's biggest building society reaffirmed its intention to keep its call centres in the UK last year when it opened a new operation in Wakefield as part of a £300 million programme to improve access to services for members.

The new Wakefield site, which employs more than 160 people, takes the number of UK call centres operated by Nationwide to five, with other centres in Northampton, Sheffield, Swansea and Swindon.

Research conducted by Nationwide shows that 91 per cent of people say it is important to them that their enquiries are handled from call centres based in the UK and that 84 per cent would be less likely to choose to deal with a company if they knew it used call centres abroad.

Stuart Bernau, executive director at Nationwide, said: "Contact with our customers is a vital part of our service and we firmly believe it is in their interests to operate our call centres in the UK.

"Given that our research proves that people prefer dealing with UK-based call centres, we believe that our strategy is the right one but it also helps to support the communities in which Nationwide conducts its business."