Chicago-based Nothern Trust confirmed yesterday that it plans to establish a second Irish fund administration operation at the National Technology Park in Limerick. The project will create 300 jobs, writes Kathryn Hayes in Limerick

The company, which is regarded as one of the world's leading financial services institutions, already employs 400 people in Dublin's IFSC where it established a fund services division in 2000.

Announcing details of the Limerick jobs, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin described the company's plans as "genuinely superb" news for Limerick.

"We are confident that this new operation for Limerick will achieve the same rapid growth and success experienced by its Dublin business," he said.

The 300 new "high-level positions" being created in Limerick will require people with third-level qualifications in either accountancy or business-related disciplines, explained the Minister, adding that a high level of communication skills and computer literacy would also be required.

Speaking at the announcement, Brian Ovaert, head of fund administration at Nothern Trust, said the company anticipates making a "multimillion euro investment in people, technology and property" in Limerick.

"A number of factors are going to determine the number of positions we will ultimately have in Limerick, but we envisage this office growing up to 300 or more in time," he said.

"We know there are experienced people working in Dublin or other areas who hail from the Limerick region who will be interested in working in fund administration at home," he added.

The company's head of Irish operations, Melíosa O'Caoimh, confirmed yesterday that the company had already begun its recruitment drive, with plans to start up in Limerick at the end of March next year.

Ms O'Caoimh described the Dublin office to date as "very successful" and said Limerick was now in store for a slice of this success story. "Essentially, we're bringing a piece of the Dublin IFSC down to Limerick," she said.

Northern Trust is a multibank holding company based in Chicago with a total of 84 offices in 18 US states. It also has offices in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

As of June 30th, the company had assets under custody of $3.2 trillion and assets under management of $640 billion.