Barclays to shutter Coventry call centre

Barclays to shutter Coventry call centre

Barclays Bank is to close a call centre in Coventry, UK, with the loss of 350 jobs.

The call centre, which handles online banking and secure payments, is set to be shuttered in March. The bank says it will try to relocate staff to other facilities elsewhere in the country.

Unite, the union which represents staff at Barclays, condemned the plans.

Dominic Hook Unite national officer says: "Unite has real questions as to why such an important and productive centre in Coventry is being closed. This decision is damaging to Barclays, the staff and the local community in Coventry - where this centre is a large local employer."

Speaking at its third quarter results presentation last week, Barclays chief Antony Jenkins hinted that more branch and call centre closures could be on the horizon due to customers' growing enthusiasm for online and mobile services.

The bank has seen an 8.4% reduction in the volume of calls to its contact centres, while almost half of all consumer lending last month was transacted by customers without visiting a branch.

"The implication of this shift is that the traditional branch model and other points of contact will become less important to customers as part of the service mix over time. And that in turn represents a significant opportunity to save cost," said Jenkins.

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