MORE than a 100 North-East call centre jobs are under threat after the Abbey banking group revealed it may transfer the work overseas.

If the move goes ahead, about 100 jobs could go at Stockton and 470 at a site near Southampton.

The group is understood to be reviewing its call centres and other operational sites with IT services supplier EDS, with which it has a £260m joint venture. It is reported to be considering moving its billing and call centre operations to India.

The group has already transferred 400 jobs in customer services from Warrington and Derby to Bangalore.

Abbey and EDS said in a joint statement: "The aim is to improve cost savings with improvements such as reducing duplication of roles, transferring work to larger sites and basing some operations offshore."

The joint venture was launched in 2001, when Abbey hoped it would save £90m over ten years.

The contract was thought to be a big obstacle to a potential takeover of the group.

Last month, Abbey told the City that the outlook for trading profits at its high street division was "moderately weaker" but insisted its restruct- uring remained on track.

The possible loss of the Teesside jobs will be a further blow to the North-East where one in every 23 workers are employed in the call centre industry.

Last year, Lloyds TSB rocked the region when it announced it was transferring 980 similar jobs from Tyneside to India.