Midland to create 600 phone banking jobs

Midland Bank is to create up to 600 jobs in Scotland with the opening of its fourth telephone banking centre. Some 200 people will be recruited for the new Customer Service Centre at Lochside Court on the Edinburgh Business Park this year, with the remaining 400 posts being filled when the site is fully occupied in 1998.

Midland said it was expanding from its two sites in England and one in Wales to help cope with increasing customer demand. It also announced plans to extend its telephone service to handle calls seven days a week.

The news follows plans announced last month by Midland's First Direct division to create up to 5,000 jobs in Scotland over the next seven years with its new call centre at Hamilton in Lanarkshire.

Keith Whitson, Midland's chief executive, said: "Our new site is designed to help satisfy demand from Midland's customers for banking services by telephone into the next century. We have chosen Edinburgh because we are very impressed with the quality of the local people and the premises."