American financial tech firm to create 100 new jobs in Belfast

Q Radio news

An Atlanta-headquartered risk management firm is creating 100 new jobs in Belfast, with the creation of a new FinTech Centre.

Riskonnect provides technology solutions to over 900 customers around the world to help them anticipate, manage, and respond in real-time to strategic and operational risks.

The company says 25 of the new positions have already been filled. 

It hopes the positions will bring around £3million per year to the local economy through salaries.

Invest NI will offer £416,000 to the company as part of the overall investment in job creation.

📹@Economy_NI Minister speaking in New York this morning after announcing 100 new jobs @Riskonnect pic.twitter.com/qbWH5sN78B

— Economy NI (@Economy_NI) March 10, 2020

Kevin Holland, Chief Executive of Invest Northern Ireland said: “This announcement follows recent investments by US companies including Aflac, Contrast Security and ESO, and further demonstrates our ability to attract global businesses.

“We are a significant player in the global fintech sector. Indeed, Belfast was recently ranked third (after London and Singapore) overall in fDi magazine’s Fintech Location of the Future for 2019/20."

Riskonnect’s CEO, Jim Wetekamp says the Belfast team will support the company’s global operations.

“We are making this major investment in response to an increase in demand for our services" he said.

"Northern Ireland’s burgeoning fintech sector, together with a dynamic and highly educated workforce, makes Belfast an obvious choice for us.

“We were highly impressed by the local talent offering and by the strong links forged between industry and universities. We are confident that we can find the workforce we need amongst Northern Ireland’s talent base to support our ambitious global strategy.”

Riskonnect has offices in the US, London and India and this investment comes during a successful expansion period for the firm, following its acquisition of Marsh ClearSight in 2018.