Belfast firm announces further expansion with 500 new jobs

Northern Ireland’s FinTrU has announced the opening of a new office in Porto, Portugal.

The technologically-enabled Regulatory Solutions company’s expansion into Porto has been approved as a project of national strategic interest by the IEFP.

This new office location will be a client delivery centre, working directly with Tier 1 Investment Bank clients across the globe.

FinTrU has also launched an opportunity for graduates with their Financial Services Academy now open for applications. Candidates will be considered from several degree disciplines.

FinTrU has delivered over 30 academies over the past eight years across multiple locations.

Established in 2013 and headquartered in Belfast and offices in Londonderry, FinTrU designs technology-enabled solutions for Investment Banks across the world.

The company currently employs more than 1,100 people worldwide with offices in Northern Ireland, England, Republic of Ireland, Netherlands and the United States.

FinTrU’s expansion into Porto will further enable employees to work across different global locations through the company’s interconnected offices, creating future mobility opportunities. In March 2022, FinTrU was named by the Financial Times as one of Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies for the second year in a row.

FinTrU founder and chief executive officer, Darragh McCarthy, said: “As FinTrU continues to grow its International Investment Bank client portfolio, we see this expansion of our global footprint as a very important step in our company journey. Having reviewed a number of European locations, we were under no illusions that Porto represented the best choice for FinTrU as our next client delivery base.”

FinTrU chief of staff, Katrien Roppe, explained: “We worked closely with AICEP who were fantastic in demonstrating the opportunities that Porto has to offer.

"The highly educated talent, the thriving business community and top tier universities on offer confirmed our decision. The client projects based at FinTrU Porto will be integrated into the FinTrU delivery framework, guaranteeing the high level of quality standards that we offer to our global clients.”

Luís Castro Henriques, chairman & CEO at AICEP – Portugal’s Trade & Investment Agency, continued: “We are extremely pleased to welcome FinTrU’s new Delivery Centre in Porto, yet again highlighting the stellar quality of the talent available in Portugal. The unique combination of competitive advantages the country has to offer, and the increasingly successful innovative ecosystem Porto has been recently developing, have been key throughout the company’s decision process.

Telmo Fernandes, FinTrU Porto site lead, added: “I am very excited to begin my role as site lead for FinTrU Porto. The company’s culture for investing in the development of its people, and Tier 1 client portfolio, were major factors for me in joining the company as we embark on this exciting project. We will invest to build an eco-system in Porto whilst developing graduate programmes to support with this expansion.

"We have been recognised for this practice by winning several accolades and look forward to leveraging that award-winning knowledge to progress and build FinTrU Porto. Our mission is to empower our people to drive industry-disrupting and innovative solutions, and we cannot wait to have Porto as part of that goal.”