Up to 1,500 jobs in the financial services sector are in jeopardy after Endsleigh Insurance and Goldfish said they were planning to close centres throughout the country.
Endsleigh said it was considering closing all its 119 retail outlets before the end of this year, following a strategic review, and would instead concentrate on internet business.
The company, which specialises in providing loans and insurance policies for students and graduates, will now enter into a three-month consultation with its staff.
It has 18 branches across the Midlands, more than half of them on university campuses.
Three months after Barclays bought credit card provider Goldfish, it has proposed the closure of call centres in Cumbernauld, outside Glasgow, with the loss of 900 jobs, as well as its head office in London, which has 90 employees.
However, both firms stressed they would do their best to reduce redundancies by providing alternative roles for staff with opportunities to retrain or relocate to other parts of the country.
Mike Alcock, Endsleigh’s managing director said "The internet has rapidly become the channel of choice for people searching for insurance, often after office hours.
"We have very successfully capitalised on this growth area and over the past five years our client base has grown significantly.
"Unfortunately, over the same time period, the number of people visiting our branches has dwindled to an extremely small number. Clearly our company resources must be aligned to consumer demand."
More than 30 per cent of Endsleigh’s new business sales are transacted entirely on-line, while over 80 per cent of total inquiries originate from the internet and this is anticipated to increase further.
Following the closures, Endsleigh plans to create new regional-based "relationship teams" throughout the UK, with about 50 existing sales employees liaising particularly with the education community.
Employees at Goldfish's Scottish call centre will continue to work during the three-month consultation period.
Barclays agreed a £35 million deal to buy Goldfish in February, adding about 1.7 million customers to the bank’s 9.6 million Barclaycard card holders.
Amer Sajed, managing director of UK Cards at Barclaycard said: "The flexibility we have created within Barclaycard’s existing global servicing operations means we are able to maintain high levels of service for our existing customers and Goldfish customers, without the additional capacity provided by the Cumbernauld operation.
"We consider that this is the right strategy in the context of the highly competitive industry in which we operate."
He added that there would be a "comprehensive package of advice and support" for those affected.
