Santander UK Brings Its Call Centres Home

Santander UK has returned all its call centres in India to the UK following complaints from customers.

The UK's third biggest bank, which is owned by Spanish parent Banco Santander, said the move had created 500 UK-based jobs.

The bank said the decision was taken following feedback from customers who said dealing with an offshore call centre was "a frustration that can lead to dissatisfaction".

Ana Botin, chief executive officer of Santander UK: "We have listened to the feedback and have acted by re-establishing our call centres back here.

"This is a major step for us and I am determined that we will do even more to improve the service we offer as I plan further initiatives later this year to build on the progress we are making."

Abbey, as it was then known, outsourced its call centre operations in 2003 to two centres in India, one in Bangalore and one in Pune.

All calls handled by the Indian centres are now being dealt with by staff based in Glasgow, Leicester and Liverpool.

Santander hired an additional 500 UK staff to handle the estimated 1.5 million calls each month.

In total, Santander's UK call centres employ 2,500 staff.

Santander UK is on a drive to improve customer service after topping the customer complaint tables published by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

The FSA said Santander UK dropped to second place behind Barclays in the second half of last year after receiving 165,000 complaints about its banking services.

Santander said it has reduced the volume of complaints in the last year, and 80% of all complaints were now dealt with within 48 hours.