Santander to create 400 call-centre jobs

The Spanish banking giant Santander is to create 400 call-centre jobs in the UK following rapid growth in its business.

The bank said the jobs, in addition to 600 branch-based roles announced in July, would support the business generated by its aggressive push into the UK market. The call-centre roles will be in Liverpool, Glasgow and Leicester.

Santander, which earlier this month emerged as the bank with the highest proportion of customer complaints in the UK in the first half of this year, said the new roles would ensure the bank "continues to improve its service".

The bank has 25 million customers and 1,300 branches following its acquisitions of Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and parts of Bradford & Bingley. It received 216,158 complaints in the six months to June. Santander, which employs 22,500 staff in the UK, has seen new products such as the Santander Zero current account drive its market share in the UK, with lending to small and medium businesses also growing by 20 per cent this year.

Earlier this year, the company said it was on track to open one million new accounts for the second year in a row, and posted a 10 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £875m for the first six months of the year.

Nigel Cotgrove, national officer of the Communication Workers Union, welcomed the news, adding: "This is welcome news for the UK banking sector and provides valuable new job opportunities in Liverpool, Leicester and Glasgow.

"At a time when unemployment is rising and many workers in other banks are losing their jobs, it is good to see Santander investing in jobs for the future which will also help to boost customer service."