US Investment For NI Announced

There's 'money from America' this week as the NI Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster has announced a multi-million pound research and development-based investment.

She said yesterday that the move will see a total of £4.1 million being 'delivered' through Newry company First Derivatives plc.

Speaking in New York on Thursday, the Minister said she had met First Derivatives' North American Director, Chris McAuley, (pictured with the Minister) at the company's New York office on the final day of the Invest Northern Ireland strategic mission to the US.

First Derivatives plc is a leading provider of consultancy and software solutions to the capital markets industry. Focused on financial institutions, the company develops, implements and supports a broad range of mission-critical trading and risk management systems across front, middle and back-office operations.

Invest Northern Ireland has offered £1,289,606 of support, which includes part funding from the European Regional Development Fund. The investment will facilitate two research projects into the development of new products to deal with Real Time Risk and Market Data Management.

These projects are included in a long-term business development plan by the company to market its own software products as part of its wider service offering.

"First Derivatives is one of our most successful indigenous software companies and is continuing to perform strongly in challenging global markets, including the US.

"The company's focus on innovation has helped it secure many of the world's largest financial institutions as clients.

"As the strategic mission to the US this week demonstrated, there are significant opportunities for local companies in this market and innovation is key to developing a competitive edge," she continued.

"Many NI companies have discovered how research and development can deliver significant commercial advantages in competitive markets leading to increased turnover and profits.

"R&D boosts the skills base and enhances linkages between industry and academia, all factors which in turn strengthen our ability to secure new investment, potential jobs and economic growth in the future."

Brian Conlon, Chief Executive Officer of First Derivatives plc, said: "This latest investment from Invest Northern Ireland will allow us to accelerate our ambitious R&D program.

"We have successfully completed three projects with help from Invest NI which have already yielded sales in North America and Asia.

"We are committed to becoming leaders in innovation in the world's financial markets and our programme is dedicated to applying the latest theoretical breakthroughs in technology to resolving seemingly intractable problems in finance, especially in the areas of trading, risk and data management.

"We believe that this latest investment in Research and Development will contribute significantly to the company's growth and will help First Derivatives plc to further enhance its reputation globally."