The UK's Nationwide Building Society has reaffirmed its commitment to keeping its call centres in the the country by opening a new facility in Sheffield.
Nationwide announced in January that it was making a substantial investment in its UK call centre operations, in direct contrast to industry trends for shifting jobs to cheaper offshore locations.
The new facility in Sheffield, which received £200,000 in governement funding, is located in the same building as the building society's city centre branch. Nationwide says the new centre will eventually employ 180 people.
Philip Williamson, chief executive, Nationwide, says: "Our call centres form a key part of our customer service and we don't want to outsource this vital contact abroad."
The building society now employs nearly 900 people in call centres in Swindon, Northampton, Swansea and Sheffield. Together the centre handle on average 21,000 calls and e-mails a day.