3. Call Centres

Call Centres were the next major step forward for banks.

Customers make a large number of telephone calls to their bank and there weren't always enough staff in the branch to take calls and serve customers.

So banks began to set up separate facilities where large numbers of workers spend the day answering telephone calls from customers. These staff didn't just deal with customers from one branch, they could be speaking to customers from any branch around the country.

Call centres saved banks a lot of money because they could deal with a large number of calls from customers quickly and efficiently.

Eventually banks began to realise that the call centres didn't have to be based in the UK where wages are quite high. They are now placed all over the world to take advantage of the lower wages earned in many developing countries.

Although this has saved the banks a lot of money, it has been found that customers generally dislike speaking to someone in another country about their bank details.