Citigroup, one of the world’s biggest banks, is planning to hire a further 400 people in Northern Ireland.
That’s according to the firm’s country manager James Bardrick who, in an interview with Bloomberg, said he is keen to continue growing the business’s base in the province in the coming years. It currently has more than 3,200 people, building out the business significantly since first arriving around 18 years ago.
Earlier this year it announced its intention to hire another 300 people in Belfast and it is thought the latest announcement is in addition to those roles.
Mr Bardrick said the new roles will be at all levels of seniority across compliance, legal HR, markets support functions and technology and are likely to be supporting the bank’s global business. A long-time advocate of building out the bank in province, he told the newswire it is a great place to live and work.
“The education system is absolutely smashing and more and more people are saying ‘I’ve been to university and school in Belfast, I live here, I love it,” he told Bloomberg.
The move sees Citi grow its dominance as one of the largest financial services employers in Northern Ireland and continues a recent trend of major banks moving some of their back and middle office functions to less expensive regions.
When it first set up a base in 2004, Citi built a technology centre, but has since expanded that across a range of other functions including legal, communications and a range of other functions. It has a number of bases across Belfast, including its flagship office in the city’s Titanic Quarter which it recently bought having leased it for a number of years.
At February’s announcement of the 300 additional jobs, Mr Bardrick again praised the talent pool in the region.
“We have been able to grow rapidly due to the incredibly deep and broad pool of talent present in Northern Ireland,” James Bardrick, Head of Citi UK, said. “A key feature of life at Citi is giving our people the opportunity to live locally but work globally, supporting our businesses around the world.
