AT least 1,000 jobs are being created in the North-East through the banking arm of Tesco setting up a call centre, it was revealed yesterday.

Tesco Bank has taken a 15- year lease on a building at Quorum Business Park, in Newcastle, a move which forms a key part of its national expansion plans.

Benny Higgins, chief executive of Tesco Bank, said yesterday that 500 jobs will be created by the end of next year, with recruitment starting early in the new year. At least 500 more will be created in the next three years at the building, which can accommodate 1,200 staff.

The announcement was hailed as a massive boost for the North-East and to its thriving contact centre industry, which already employs 61,000 people across the region.

The 103,256sq ft premises, at the £180m Quorum Business Park – the biggest speculative office development in England, which will eventually house 12,000 workers – will manage customer sales and service for Tesco Bank’s home and motor insurance. It has been supported by a £2m grant from regional development agency One North East to help equip the centre. It comes shortly after the company announced 1,000 jobs would be created between bases in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Mr Higgins said the move into Newcastle comes at a time of strong growth for Tesco Bank, and that the decision to move to the North- East could be the start of a lasting relationship with the region, adding: “We have made a big commitment to the region in taking a 15-year lease, and with the creation of 1,000 jobs.

“I hope this is the start of a very long and happy relationship between the North-East and Tesco Bank.”

“We looked at numerous locations in the UK, but we know there is already a pool of talent in the North-East, and that was very important in making our decision.

“Now we look forward to creating 500 jobs by the end of next year, and are very confident we can create another 500 within another two to three years.”

The bank’s announcement, which was secured after work by One North East, Tyne and Wear Development Company and North Tyneside Council, was welcomed in the region yesterday.

Alan Clarke, chief executive of One North East, said: “This is a real vote of confidence in the North-East economy.

They recognised the ability of the region’s workforce to deliver this important project as it would have been simple to outsource these jobs to its facility in India.”

Fergus Trim, Quorum Development Partners development director, said the letting to Tesco Bank was significant.

He said: “When we relaunched Quorum earlier this year on the back of the £180m phase of development, a major focus was targeting major PLCs from outside the region.

“I’m delighted Tesco Bank is hopefully the first of many to invest in, and bring new jobs to, the North-East.”