Treliant, which acquired homegrown business Vox Financial Partners in 2021, announced on Tuesday it is to create 150 new jobs in Belfast in capital markets and managed services business units.
Once filled, the jobs would contribute £4.8m in annual salaries averaging £32,000 to Northern Ireland’s economy.
Currently located on Howard Street, Treliant is finalising an agreement to rent larger space on Adelaide Street across three floors with capacity for 220 employees.
With a £750,000 grant from Invest NI aiding its growth plan, the US firm has already added 44 new positions. Its workforce currently stands at around 100, and it plans to recruit the additional positions over a three-year period.
The Belfast site services customers in North America, London and around the world.
Washington DC-based-Treliant, which also has sites in New York, London and Poland, is currently scouting potential sites in the northwest for a second Northern Ireland office.
Treliant chief executive David Samuels said the firm had ambitious plans to leverage the Belfast office’s scope beyond the capital markets focus of Vox.
“If you think about Treliant, we’re a global organisation serving the largest financial institutions in the world with a range of advisory, consulting and staff augmentation services across a broad range of risk, compliance and capital markets functions,” he said.
“We’re able to leverage Belfast, with its high-quality education, to find the right set of resources with the right skills. Culturally this is a great fit for us, because the individuals here in Belfast are committed to their careers and working extremely hard for the success of the company.
“We want to create an environment where individuals feel this is the right place to work so, while it is a competitive market environment, we think we can compete effectively against even the largest firms for these particular types of talent.
“We’re calling this our year of culture and growth and that culture side is going to be a big focus for us here in Belfast.”
Treliant is actively seeking new recruits with a background in STEM, data, analytics, legal documentation, project management and business or financial analysis, said Treliant Capital Markets chief executive Terry Robinson.
As a “homegrown business, created by people who went to school here, it makes us attractive,” said Mr Robinson. “We understand our employees.”
Higher unemployment and the price point are among factors driving a potential new site in the northwest.
“Particularly for projects where we would run managed services and create capability, the northwest would be very attractive and Invest NI have some resources there,” he said.
In line with Treliant’s global strategy, the firm may look at trying to recruit underutilised parts of the workforce such as returning mothers or retirees.
Ease of doing business, knowledge of the financial sector, infrastructure and costs are among factors behind Treliant’s expansion plans in Belfast.
Mel Chittock, interim CEO of Invest NI, said the investment is “a great testament to the skills and the abilities of people from Northern Ireland”.
A review led by Sir Michael Lyons on the performance of Invest NI and its implementation of the Government’s 10X economic strategy published last week was highly critical of the agency.
