Financial services firm to create 250 new jobs

Cork received a major boost today with a second jobs announcement in just two days.

Financial services company, Citco, confirmed it was expanding its existing data processing company in the southern county with the creation of 250 jobs.

With the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, Amgen, yesterday confirming the creation of 1,100 jobs for the region, Employment Minister Micheál Martin said it means over the next few years 1,350 high quality new jobs would come on stream in Cork.

Citco confirmed it was opening a second hedge fund administration centre in Cork, as well as expanding its existing data processing operation in Cork as part of an IDA backed venture.

The two projects, which will be located in an office at Tellengana House in Blackrock, Cork, will create over 250 new jobs in financial sectors in hedge fund, custody and support activities.

Mr Martin said: “These two developments will further strengthen Citco’s Irish operation and consolidate the success which the company has achieved to date in both Cork and Dublin.

“These developments of the company’s activities in Cork will considerably increase the profile of the South-West Region as a location for financial services activities and will further demonstrate its ability to provide the people and support infrastructure required for the success of such operations.”

Nicolaas Hofman, General Manager of Citco Data Processing Services Limited, said Citco was one of the first organisations within the investment management industry in Ireland to set up an operation outside Dublin back in 2000.

The company said its decision to open Citco Data Processing Services at Cork Airport Business Park in 2000 had created excellent opportunities for professionals working in the industry outside Dublin.

Kieran Conroy, Managing Director of Citco Fund Services in Dublin, said: “When we commenced operations in 1999, we recognised that Ireland represented a tremendous opportunity to develop our fund administration business, the quality of the workforce is very high and it is well educated and experienced in financial services.

“The decision to locate in Ireland has been fully vindicated and this expansion into a new location for our fund administration business reflects on our continued commitment to Ireland as a strategic location for our business.”

He said the jobs expansion would offer opportunities to graduates in financial services from third level colleges close to Cork.

The company employs 600 people in Ireland and has been servicing clients for over six years from three separate operations at its offices in Dublin’s International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) and at the Cork Airport Business Park.

The data processing service in Cork currently employs over 300 people and provides back office, data processing and systems development in support of the business conducted by Citco Bank Nederland NV in Amsterdam, Milan and Dublin.