Tesco Bank is to create 1,000 jobs in Newcastle. The supermarket giant’s financial arm announced this morning the creation of a new customer service office in the city to handle customer enquiries and sales for the bank.

“Newcastle is the ideal home for our new insurance customer service centre. The north-east of England has strong experience in customer services and the financial sector, with a well-qualified and enthusiastic workforce,” said Benny Higgins, chief executive of Tesco Bank.

“The city is a great fit for our business and as it develops we will be investing even more in the region over the coming years.”

The firm aims to fill 500 posts by the end of next year, and all 1,000 by 2014. It has taken a 15-year lease on a business park site, and is receiving a grant of almost £2m from the local development agencies.

Business secretary Lord Mandelson said that the new jobs would be “invaluable to the north-east, and to the wider UK economy”.

Tesco Bank is one of the frontrunners to buy Northern Rock, which cut hundreds of jobs in the north-east following its collapse into nationalisation last year. The announcement comes just hours before the EU’s decides whether to split Northern Rock in two.

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