The Bank of London has said it will hire 232 new staff in Belfast by 2026. The announcement is part of the fintech’s plan to open a new centre of excellence in the city.

Once the roles have been filled, they are expected to generate around £20m worth of annual salaries for the local economy.

The Bank of London first launched last November and has a valuation of $1.1bn. It is a clearing agency and transaction bank with a global focus and its own patented tech.

It was established to assist banks, clearing houses, digital and traditional asset firms, governments, financial services companies, payment networks and non-financial brands in launching fully compliant financial products and services, both in-country and across-borders.

The bank has already filled 34 of the roles for the Belfast centre. So far, that team is made up of payments leaders, software engineers, operations and other business functions. The bank is currently advertising a further 54 roles. The remainder will be in place by 2026.

The London-headquartered bank also has offices in New York. Speaking about his company’s decision to focus on Belfast, Anthony Watson, founder and group CEO of The Bank of London, said that Belfast was now “the UK’s gateway city to the EU, and this coupled with Belfast’s exceptional fintech talent across multiple disciplines, makes it the logical choice for The Bank of London’s Centre of Excellence to power our UK expansion.”

“To build the future of finance, we need to be where the future is,” he added. Northern Ireland has the highest concentration of fintech employment in the UK. It is a base for many other fintech employers, including Citi, Datactics, Options Technology and Vox Financial.

Last year, a Deloitte report commissioned by FinTechNI estimated that the sector was worth around £392m per year to local economy. It also said that the region could be home to 100 fintech firms by 2024.

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