Nationwide reaffirms 'anti-offshoring' stance

Nationwide building society has reaffirmed its 'no offshoring' commitment to UK call centres with the opening of a new operation in Sheffield this week.

The building society reiterated its position against the use of overseas call centres after a source indicated to silicon.com that the Nationwide no longer wanted to be associated with that stance.

Nationwide is one of a small number of financial services institutions that have tried to capitalise on their anti-offshoring stance by turning it into a selling point for customers concerned about the loss of UK jobs and quality of service.

Back in January this year Nationwide CEO Philip Williamson claimed that despite the savings associated with offshoring there are too many risks.

To back that up, Nationwide has today opened its new 180-person call centre in Sheffield with the help of a £200,000 government grant bringing the number of staff at existing UK call centres in Swindon, Swansea and Northampton to 900.

A spokeswoman for Nationwide denied the building society had changed its stance and said it still stands by Willamson's comments at the start of the year. "We are still committed to call centres in the UK," she said.