Bradford & Bingley announces call centre closures

NEWS UK building society, Bradford & Bingley, plans to close down operations in two of its call centres with the loss of 365 jobs. The closure comes at a time when many of its building society and bank counterparts are investing millions into their call centres. Bradford & Bingley said the closure is due to economies of scale rather than its planned demutualisation process. It currently runs its lending activities from three different sites and its saving business from two. With the closure of two of those sites and the merger of its New Barnet and Hatfield-based centres, the building society hopes to reduce costs and pave the way for opening two new centres in Bingley.