Abbey National job boost for Belfast

Abbey National is set to create almost 150 new jobs after a major new investment at its call centre in Belfast, it was announced today.

The financial services company is to build a new customer outreach centre at its site in Mays Meadow in the centre of the city.

A total of 63 jobs will be created in year one, with a further 86 in year two as Belfast becomes the company’s main centre for dealing with customer queries.

The project, backed by a grant from job creation agency Invest Northern Ireland, was announced by Northern Ireland Enterprise Minister Ian Pearson.

He said: “This significant investment will create a centre of customer relationship management expertise in Belfast and further develop the type of added-value service that Invest NI is keen to support.”

At the moment, 707 people are employed at the company’s call and software centre in Mays Meadow.

Abbey National’s customer sales director Mark Pain said the new customer outreach centre was part of a root-and-branch change within the company.

“We are confident it will help us get closer to our customers and help build the foundations for the successful delivery of our new strategy, particularly getting the right people to the right place to serve customers better.”