New financial services centre bound for Belfast

Over 40 jobs are to be created in Belfast after Grafton Recruitment confirmed the city as its location for a new financial shared services centre.

Payzene Ltd, which is being supported by Invest NI, will eventually employ 43 staff who will carry out back office functions such as payroll, credit control and producing management information.

Welcoming the decision, Leslie Morrison, Chief Executive of Invest NI, who are providing financial assistance to the project, said: “We have been successful in encouraging companies such as Grafton and Caterpillar to broaden the spectrum of their operations in Northern Ireland by diversifying into such support services and now have a significant and growing financial services sector.

“This decision by an internationally successful company to locate its support facility in Belfast reaffirms the strength of the Northern Ireland proposition. In particular it reflects confidence in the skills of our workforce and in our high performance technical infrastructure.”

Sixteen staff will initially transfer from Grafton to Payzene and the project will provide 27 additional quality jobs, contributing over £1.1 million annually to the local economy in salaries.

Initially Payzene will provide services for Grafton companies in the UK and Ireland and will then extend the support to Grafton’s overseas network. The long-term aim is to offer outsourced payroll and human resource services to Grafton’s extensive client base.

Invest NI has offered the company £148,500 in selective financial assistance towards the project.

(MB/SP)