Barclaycard, the credit card division of Barclays, has announced the shutting of a call center in Manchester. The bank has decided to route more customer queries to India.

Barclaycard is outsourcing more work to Mumbai and Delhi at a time when other financial-services companies, notably Lloyds TSB, are bringing customer call centers back to Britain.

Manchester call center, Peterloo House, will be closing on the 16 July 2007. The staff will continue to work at Peterloo House until July. After that time, they will have a further three months on full pay in order to help them find alternative employment.

Barclaycard has operated in Peterloo House since 1981. The site mostly handles customer service and sales calls for U.K. credit card customers.