Software firm to treble staff in Belfast

A United States financial services company is nearly trebling its workforce in the North, it was announced today.

Wombat Financial Software is creating 77 new jobs at its Belfast base as part of a £2m (€2.9m) investment .

They said the expansion would create high quality jobs in such disciplines as software development, service operations and sales and marketing.

The company set up in Belfast in 2005 and currently employs 45 people in the city and develops advances software which is used to supply stock exchange data to financial institutions at high speed which is then used to make trading decisions.

Announcing the jobs boost during a visit to the company Northern Ireland Economy Minister Nigel Dodds said: “Wombat’s decision to reinvest here underlines the firm’s confidence in Northern Ireland and the specialist skills which are available here.

“It also further strengthens the local financial services sector, a key target area for growth and investment.”

He said Wombat’s initial decision to open in Belfast had clearly added value to its global business.

“I hope that this further expansion will continue to deliver major successes in new and exciting markets.”

Danny Moore, chief operations officer of Wombat, said: “Our experience in Belfast has been extremely positive with highly skilled software engineers and our proximity to Europe helping us to grow and sustain our business.”

He said that by creating the 77 jobs the company would deliver more than £15 million in wages and salaries into the local economy by 2010.

“We hope to take Wombat’s Belfast centre of engineering excellence to an even more competitive level and explore new market opportunities,” he added.

Invest NI, Northern Ireland’s economic development agency, provided financial assistance for the expansion of nearly £1m (€1.47m).