BELFAST & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Options, the leading private financial cloud provider for the global capital markets industry, today announced it has opened a new office in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Located in the Botanic Avenue area of the city, the new office will see the IaaS provider create a total of 31 new financial technology jobs. In choosing to locate in Belfast, Options join a number of other leading financial services firms in Northern Ireland, including CME, Citi Group and NYSE. Options’ expansion into Belfast will be part-supported by Invest Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland’s economic development agency.
Options, who provide managed services and infrastructure products to leading hedge funds, global investment banks, private equity firms and exchanges, currently employs over 100 staff globally and has already started hiring in Northern Ireland. The Belfast office, which is recruiting for roles dedicated to client support, account management, marketing and engineering, is the latest in a series of global expansions and follows an 18 months in which the firm has expanded their Midtown office in New York, opened an office in Chicago and opened a second London office, in the more central West End area. The firm also has offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Wimbledon, in southwest London.
Options’ Chief Operating Officer is Danny Moore, the former COO of NYSE Technologies. Prior to joining NYSE, Danny served as Chief Executive Officer of Belfast and New York-based trading technology firm Wombat Financial Software.
He commented: “The burgeoning financial technology sector here, coupled with a dynamic, motivated and highly educated workforce, makes Belfast a perfect fit for Options. The breadth of local talent, both technical and non-technical, is the reason we brought Wombat to Belfast, and later NYSE, and I’ve no doubt that it was this talent that helped propel Wombat to its ultimate success. Similarly, I fully expect Belfast to be an integral part of Options’ future growth.
“I would like to thank Barry, Minster Foster and Invest NI for their confidence and commitment. This last decade has seen Belfast, and Northern Ireland, become a significant player in the global financial services sector and it certainly would not have been possible without their continued support”, Mr Moore concluded.
Welcoming the announcement, Enterprise Trade and Investment Minister Arlene Foster said: “The company’s rationale for selecting Northern Ireland includes the availability of skilled support engineers, the high-speed telecommunications links between Northern Ireland, North America and Europe, and the support offered by Invest NI.
“Options was also influenced by the positive experience of other financial IT companies here, such as Citi and CME, and by the strong links between industry and our university research groups in Belfast and Londonderry.”
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Options (www.options-it.com):
Options is the premier provider of infrastructure products to the Global Financial Services sector. Founded in 1993, the company began life as a hedge fund technology services provider focused on the London market. More than a decade ago, the company made a strategic decision to, become the first provider to offer cloud services to the financial sector. The result was the Options PIPE® Platform and the "Private Financial Cloud" offering. Today over 150 firms globally leverage Options PIPE®, including the leading global investment banks, hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, private equity houses and exchanges.
