750 UK jobs to go at Capital One

US credit card provider Capital One has announced it is to shed 750 UK jobs with the majority of the losses at the group’s Nottingham office. The losses represent about 40% of its workforce.

The company said that the jobs would be moved from its UK call centres and account servicing division and transferred to India and other countries.

In recent years, the credit card company expanded rapidly in Europe but is believed to have come under pressure in the UK in the last 12 months as default levels have increased and new restrictions were imposed on the penalty charges that can be applied to credit card customers.

Srini Gopalan, the head of Capital One’s British business, said I am confident that the business model we are moving towards will allow us greater opportunity to bring our costs in line with our competitors so that we are able to compete more effectively and efficiently in the UK credit card market.

The company said it was committed to continuing its offering in the UK despite the job loses.

Last June, the company announced it would shed 2,000 staff globally, leaving it with approximately 27,000 employees.

The North Carolina-based company entered the UK in 1996 in a move that marked its first overseas launch. Twelve months later, it opened a £30 million European operations centre in Nottingham which created over 1,000 jobs.

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