NYSE Euronext to open Belfast tech base, hire 400

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK

posted: 36 DAYS 14 HOURS AGO

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DUBLIN -The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange unveiled plans Monday to open a new product-development center in Belfast following years of lobbying by the Northern Ireland government.

The Belfast base of NYSE Euronext Inc., which operates several European stock exchanges and provides trading platforms for European brokers, will be its third in Europe alongside existing operations in London and Paris.

The Northern Ireland government said it was committing up to 9.6 million pounds ($15.7 million) in aid to help NYSE Euronext move into offices in central Belfast. The project is expected to produce 400 jobs in Northern Ireland, which like the rest of the United Kingdom is suffering sharply rising unemployment.

NYSE chief executive Duncan Niederauer made the announcement at Stormont Castle, the headquarters for the Protestant-Catholic coalition that has governed Northern Ireland since 2007. He was flanked by Protestant leader Peter Robinson and Catholic leader Martin McGuinness.

Niederauer told both leaders they "can count on us to be an active participant in the Northern Ireland business community and, hopefully, set a good example for other companies to come behind us."

Robinson said government leaders had to compete hard for NYSE Euronext's business, "particularly at a time when global competition for such investment has never been higher."

McGuinness said the company's choice of Belfast represented "a major endorsement of our local talent, knowledge and infrastructure."

The move builds on NYSE Euronext's $200 million March 2008 acquisition of Belfast software-development company Wombat, whose engineers already are helping to design new electronic trading platforms.

"Northern Ireland will become increasingly important to our global growth strategy and complement our technology centers in Paris and London," Niederauer said.

Aside from its New York exchanges, NYSE Euronext also operates the Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon stock exchanges and the European derivatives exchange NYSE Liffe.

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On the Net:

NYSE Euronext Technologies, http://www.nyse.com/technologies/1207087035761.html

2009-10-19 09:31:45