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Barclays to create 200-plus jobs at Sunderland centre of excellence

Barclays is creating more than 200 jobs in Sunderland where it is opening a new centre of excellence for fraud detection, the first to be set up in the UK.

The jobs will be a mixture of management, team leader and frontline call centre positions, based at the Sunderland site on Doxford International Business Park.

The bank will be investing in refurbishment at Sunderland to create the additional capacity required for the new centre, with room for further expansion.

The new offices will handle calls with Barclays customers worldwide whose bank accounts or cards have suffered potential fraud. Recruitment will start immediately and continue throughout this year.

The 200-plus new positions follow the announcement of the creation of 100 jobs at Doxford in February as part of Barclays’ roll-out of its video banking service, which allows customers to speak face-to-face with advisors via their computers, smartphones and tablets, 24 hours a day.

Christine Allenson, Barclays Sunderland site president, said: “Sunderland was chosen for the new fraud detection division because we have been able to prove the exceptional service we can provide to our customers.

“We are looking for people with life experience who are able to really connect with customers during what can be a difficult and emotional time, when there is suspected fraud on their account.

“The new opportunities are available for both existing and new to Barclays staff and we’re hugely excited to be able to offer a whole new range of career opportunities across the Sunderland site.”

A full range of jobs are being created from management to contact centre staff positions. Applicants do not need to have previous contact centre or financial services experience because training will be provided to those who have the right values for the Barclays business.

The centre of excellence will be based at Doxford, where Barclays has operated for more than a decade. The Sunderland site employs more than 1,200 people and earlier this year was named the North East Contact Centre of the Year 2014 for an unprecedented third consecutive year.

Sunderland City Council chief executive, Dr Dave Smith, said: “Barclays is a shining success story for Sunderland and I am delighted that the bank has chosen the city as the base for its new fraud detection centre of excellence.

“The creation of at least 200 jobs with the new division, coming hot on the heels of the 100 positions created at Sunderland for video banking, is great news for the city’s economy. We look forward to supporting Barclays’ continued growth and development in the city in the future.”

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