Cork is one of three European locations being considered by a major US financial services company for a back-office banking operation which could result in the creation of more than 1,000 jobs.
Virginia-based financial services provider Capital One is understood to be seeking an English-speaking European base for a centre to process back-office transactions and is considering three locations, two in Britain and the other in Cork.
An IDA Ireland spokesman confirmed that discussions had been under way for some time.
He said, however, that the talks were expected to continue until well into next year as Cork was only one of three locations under review. "There's a long way to go yet," he said.
At present, the company is understood to be talking to recruitment companies as it researches the availability of suitably skilled staff in each of the three locations.
It could be at least three months or even the second quarter of 2000 before a final decision is made.
The Capital One project is understood to be along the lines of the operation run by Citibank in Dublin's International Financial Services Centre (IFSC).
Set up in 1996, this handles the back-office administration and processing for Citibank's fund management and banking activities throughout Europe.
The sector has been actively targeted by the IDA in recent years and has generated significant employment in the Republic, particularly in Dublin.
Citibank has invested £100 million (€127 million) in its Irish operation to date, announcing the creation of an extra 1,300 jobs on top of the original 1,000 late last year.
Employment by overseas financial institutions moving here has also helped shore up overall job numbers in the banking industry and would be good news for the sector against a background where domestic institutions are cutting rather than adding staff.
With its headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia, Capital One is one of the top 10 bank card issuers in the US, with more than 20 million customers.
Its subsidiaries are among the largest providers of MasterCard and Visa credit cards in the world.
The company, whose shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, was capitalised at $7.7 billion (€7.6 billion) at the end of September.
