![[ image: width=150]](/olmedia/60000/images/_60272_doxford.jpg)
![image: [ The move has been prompted by the growth of telephone banking ]](/olmedia/60000/images/_60272_air_shot_300.jpg)
The new centre will open during the first three months of 1999, with 2,000 staff being recruited locally during the following three years.
The Barclaycall centre, to be opened at the Doxford International Business Park, in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, is the biggest jobs boost to the city since Nissan arrived in 1984.
Property market sources describe Barclays' requirement as "massive" and that would mean the potential number of new jobs running into many thousands.
![[ image: width=150]](/olmedia/60000/images/_60272_workers_150.jpg)
Barclaycall will join a blue-chip roster of companies. Those already there include Mercury One-2-One and London Electricity. If a substantial part of the Barclays operation is taken up by telemarketing, the region's reputation as an area for call centres will be enhanced.
Many of the companies that have set up in Sunderland are attracted by the lower rates of pay that workers demand and a belief that regional accents suggest honesty.
Barclays plans pay-out
(17 Feb 98 | Business)
Union opposes reported bank merger
(16 Feb 98 | Business)
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Asian economies consider ditching dollar
Eleven hit euro targets
Making a buck from burgers
Ferry merger gets go-ahead
Silver Seraph rolls into limelight
House prices 'near 1980s record'
£550m windfall for investors
Last chance to spend old 50ps
Clinton appeals: 'No net taxes'
Call centres: the new sweatshops of Britain?
Irish turning tables in boardrooms coup
The battle for Diana's lucrative legacy
(From Special Report)
E-commerce - the online shopping boom
Does size matter?
(From Despatches)
Argos attacks GUS offer