Barclays announced Monday it is adding jobs in Delaware. The British Bank is planning a nearly $7 million capital investment to add a new call center at its US consumer business headquarters in Wilmington.
The move will create 300 new jobs answering phones along with 23 managerial positions.
The Delaware Council on Development Finance approved state performance grants to support Barclays’s expansion. The bank will get nearly $2.5 million in taxpayer dollars mostly for capital expenses and employee training.
Kirk Foreman is President and CEO of the Delaware Prosperity Partnership. He says the new jobs are expected to have a more than $150 million impact to Delaware’s economy.
“Anytime you can have hundreds of new jobs announced is always a great thing,” said Foreman. “And at a time when our unemployment has spiked and a lot of Delawareans might be shifting to the next thing that’s going to make sense for them, this is a great announcement to have.”
Barclays is a global bank with 48 million customers and 85,000 employees worldwide and is one of the largest issuers of credit cards in the US. Wilmington has housed its US consumer business headquarters since 2004.
The bank removed 500 jobs from the site just under one year ago.
In a statement, Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki praised the Barclays’s “continued commitment” to both the city and the state. The Wilmington site was competing for the expansion against Barclays locations at New Jersey, Ohio and Nevada.
The new project is expected to be up and running in the new year.
