B of A creating more than 700 jobs at LV call center

Tuesday, June 8, 1999 | 11:40 a.m.

A Bank of America national call center opening in Las Vegas this summer will create about 730 jobs by next year, the bank said today.

The 730 jobs to be created is up substantially from the 220 jobs that were expected to come to Las Vegas when the center was first announced last December.

The center opens next month at 1351 Town Center Drive in Summerlin, where the company already operates its 170-employee auto dealer group. The auto dealer group is relocating to a new facility over the next several months.

The expansion is occurring as the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank digests the merger of the old Bank of America with NationsBank.

The local center initially will employ 370 people and will handle calls from Nevada, New Mexico, Kansas and Missouri. By the end of the year, it also will take calls from Florida, California and Washington. It eventually will grow to about 900 employees.

It will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and the work force will be 70 percent full time and 30 percent part time.

Call centers will be linked with "virtual center" technology, giving the bank the capability of forwarding customer calls to other centers, which should prevent waiting.

Sandy Copney, a former NationsBank executive based in Tampa, Fla., will manage the Las Vegas call center.

George Smith, president of Bank of America in Nevada, said factors bringing the jobs to Las Vegas include a a strong economy, large labor pool and a growing market for call centers.