Barclays axes 1,000 jobs at credit card centre

Barclays is set to axe nearly 1,000 jobs at its Goldfish credit card unit.

Barclays purchased the Goldfish credit card provider from Discover Financial Services back in February for £35 million. At the time, it said the move would create uncertainty for its employees in Scotland.

This has now become a reality for 900 employees in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, as Barclays is proposing to close the Goldfish call centre.

Furthermore, the credit card business’s head office in London, which has 90 full-time employees, will also close.

Barclays is to migrate the work from the Cumbernauld centre to other UK service centres before the end of 2008. It said efforts would be made to find the workers in the London office alternative roles.

Amer Sajed, managing director of UK Cards at Barclaycard, said there would be a comprehensive package of advice and support for those affected.

We consider that this is the right strategy in the context of the highly competitive industry in which we operate, he added.

Discover Financial Services, one of the biggest issuers of credit cards in the US, bought Goldfish from Lloyds TSB two years ago, but failed to make a success of the operation.

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