American Express has opened a call-handling centre in India, fuelling fears it may be preparing to cut its workforce in Brighton.

The company, which is the biggest private employer in the city, is directing some telephone calls from the UK, Australia and Canada to the new offices in a pilot scheme.

Bosses have refused to speculate on what impact the results of the trial could have on the international finance firm's future in Sussex.

But some of the 3,000 staff at Amex House, the wedding cake office in Edward Street, have contacted union leaders asking whether their jobs are safe.

Brighton Kemp Town MP Dr Des Turner has also been approached by worried workers.

The company already services some of its American clients from call centres in Delhi, Bombay and Chennai.

Call centre employees in the UK earn between £15,000 and £18,000. In India they can be paid between £3,000 and £5,000.

Atalia Dasilva public affairs director said: "We have begun a pilot scheme to look at the viability of some of our customers in the UK, Australia and Canada, being serviced by English-speaking telephone representatives based in India.

"As a global organisation, we already have multiple operational centres, such as Brighton in the UK. It makes sense to use this network to service our customers from wherever is most appropriate.

"In the new age of technology this may not necessarily mean a customer needs to be serviced in the same market as they reside.

"Having a strong and far-ranging servicing network creates maximum flexibility and more capacity to meet customer needs. This can only be a good thing for our customers."

A spokeswoman confirmed staff from Napier House in Trafalgar Place, Brighton, had already been moved to Amex House as part of a company reorganisation.

She refused to comment on whether or not any redundancies had been made but said the reorganisation was unrelated to the India pilot.

Trade union GMB has been receiving calls daily from workers.

Union branch secretary Mark Turner said: "Employees do not seem to know what, if anything, is going on and are worried."

Amex House handles card and travellers' cheque transactions from all over Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Dr Turner said: "There seems to be a general trend for companies to move a lot of their administrative functions offshore and India is now host to a number of call centres previously based in Britain.

"If redundancies were made in Brighton and Hove, the implications would be very serious. Amex is crucially important to the city economy."