GE Money already employs over 300 workers in Ostrava customer service centre

22 Nov. 2006 | CzechInvest | GE Money's customer service centre, opened in April this year, represents an important investment for the Moravia-Silesia region. The company has invested over USD 4 million and plans to expand here in the future, thus becoming a significant employer in this region suffering from high unemployment.

"This investment illustrates how other large cities in the Czech Republic, such as Ostrava, have great potential as locations for business-support services centres," says Tomas Hruda, CEO of CzechInvest. Evzen Tosenovsky, Governor of the Moravia-Silesia region, adds: "This is an indicator that for many companies our region is interesting and more advantageous than Prague for implementing essential operations."

In competition with other, mainly university cities, Ostrava was selected thanks to the capacity of its labour market and qualified workforce, which is a key factor in staffing business-support services centres. Other important factors were the city's good transport accessibility, suitable infrastructure and preparedness of the land for the investment construction.

According to A.T. Kearney, the Czech Republic ranked seventh in the world in 2005 as an ideal location for provision of global services, whereas a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit ranks the country in third place immediately behind India and China.

"GE Money is planning to expand in Ostrava. The customer service centre is functioning very well. In connection with this, as GE Money experiences dynamic growth in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, we will also expand the customer service centre in Ostrava," says Pieter van Groos, Country Manager GE Money for the Czech Republic and Slovakia and CEO of GE Money Bank. "Today 308 employees work here; by the end of 2008 there should be 500," adds Magdalena Wavle, director of GE Money's customer service centre in Ostrava-Hrabova.

The customer service centre serves GE Money's clients in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In addition to serving customers, the centre's employees are also responsible for ancillary processes, training, claims administration and data verification.

More about GE Money

Headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut in the United States, GE Money is a GE subsidiary with assets of almost USD 106 billion and is a leading provider of credit services to consumers, retailers and car dealers in over 41 countries worldwide. The company provides credit cards, personal loans, sales financing, automotive loans and leases, mortgage loans and credit insurance. GE Money operates three divisions in the Czech Republic: GE Money Bank, GE Money Multiservis and GE Money Auto.