WASHINGTON-based financial advisory firm Treliant is bringing 150 jobs (average salary £32,000) to Northern Ireland as part a multi-million pound plan to grow its footprint in Europe.
And while most of the new roles - which will be made up of team leads, consultants and analysts - will be in Belfast, the company insists it is looking to Derry and the north west as an option to further accelerate its expansion.
Treliant has had a presence in Belfast since August 2021, when it acquired Vox Financial Partners, which had been co-founded in 2015 by Brendan Gorman and by Omagh-born Terry Robinson, who now lives in New York.
Vox built a team of experienced project managers and experts to help global banking clients address a wide range of regulatory and business challenges, including fraud.
That put them on the radar of Treliant, which provides professional services to the banking, capital markets and financial services sectors, focused on helping them to manage their complex, global regulatory, compliance and business change matters.
Treliant described the acquisition of Vox as “a milestone for us - very much a natural fit”, and its chief executive David Samuels said: “Belfast clearly has a strong place within the business, since this is where our capital markets practice started.
“But as this expansion will play a pivotal role in the delivery of our growth strategy, it was important we considered all options when deciding where to invest in this large expansion.”
The company - which has been supported to the tune of £750,000 by Invest NI - has already grown its staff numbers to more than 100.
That has taken it to full capacity at its existing premises in Bedford Street, so to facility the 150 new jobs, Treliant is planning to move to three (possibly four) floors of office accommodation two blocks away in Adelaide Street.
Terry Robinson, chief executive of Treliant Capital Markets, said: “We plan to create the new roles over the next three years and are actively recruiting graduates with both legal and non-legal degrees providing training to upskill them with the knowledge needed for the specific roles within our business.
“But we won't restrict the business just to Belfast and will consider looking to the north west for further expansion, where we will look to access talent that is under-used, such as workplace returnees and working mothers, consistent with the global ethos of Treliant.”
Mr Samuels added: “We reviewed different locations based on several factors – ease of doing business, knowledge of the financial sector, infrastructure and costs, for example.
“We had two strong contenders, but Northern Ireland became our preferred choice thanks to the combination of existing knowledge and affinity to our work, the local talent and Invest NI’s support.”
Mel Chittock, interim chief executive at Invest NI, said: “We have worked with the business since 2017 and in 2020 we helped it more than double its workforce and invest in market development to support future growth.
“Now, just two years later, the company is growing again. The new roles will nearly quadruple the size of the business in Northern Ireland and will contribute £4.8m in annual salaries to our economy.
“The roles provide excellent potential for graduates to gain skills in an international financial services consultancy, and all roles are available on a hybrid working basis.”
Mr Chittock was making his first public appearance since a scathing independent review conducted by ex-BBC chairman Sir Michael Lyons found that “dysfunction and division” at the leadership level of Invest NI is harming its economic performance and causing tension.
But he refused to answer journalists' questions, and said an appropriate response would follow “within days or weeks”.
