Financial services

Invest Northern Ireland is the agency responsible for providing strategic vision for the financial services sector in the region and driving the growth of the sector's capability. We offer a flexible and comprehensive service and incentives to accelerate growth, maximise profitability and facilitate recruitment, training and research and develpment.

A climate for success

Northern Ireland attracts global financial services firms primarily because of its fresh labour pool of well-educated people with a professional attitude and a strong work ethic. Consistent focus on financial and technical disciplines is a key feature of Northern Ireland’s universities and further education colleges which themselves are highly responsive to business needs. More than two thirds of school leavers attend these institutions and approximately 25 per cent of all graduates obtain business and finance related degrees each year. Read about Northern Ireland's skilled workforce.

The availability of skilled people in Northern Ireland is complimented by the region’s competitive costs, favourable macro-environment, sophisticated infrastructure and existing cluster of synergistic businesses - all of which make it a very a compelling near-shore proposition in Europe. Read about Northern Ireland as a cost-efficient location.

International Recognition

Northern Ireland’s financial services sector is well established, demonstrated by reinvestments from global banks and insurance firms including Citi, Liberty Mutual, and The Allstate Corporation and by the continued growth of indigenous financial services companies, including First Derivatives and Singularity. Read about First Derivatives on the First Derivatives website. Find out about Singularity on the Singularity website.

The Financial Services technology sector is especially strong with specialist software development centres established by Wombat Financial Software and others to service high profile financial services firms in global centres world-wide.

A growth sector

The sector continues to grow and recent developments include Bank of Ireland's new Hedge Funds Centre of Excellence which is currently being established in Belfast. Read about the Bank of Ireland's investment in Northern Ireland in our news section.

Other activities carried out in the sector include:

• Fund administration and operations
• Legal and compliance
• Software development
• Business process outsourcing / IT outsourcing
• Shared services
• Customer relationship management

Download a guide to the financial services sector in Northern Ireland (PDF)