UK outsourcing group Capita to double Irish workforce to 1,600 over next three years

UK outsourcing and asset management group Capita expects to create an additional 800 jobs in Ireland over the next three years in a move that will double its workforce here to 1,600.

"Our feeling is that we can double the size of the business in that timescale by acquisition and organic growth," Robbie Hughes, country manager for Capita, told The Irish Times yesterday.

The increase will include hiring some staff from Irish Bank Resolution Corporation who are handling loans on behalf of the National Asset Management Agency.

In March, Nama appointed Capita Asset Services as its primary and special loan servicer on the loans currently being managed on its behalf by IBRC, now in liquidation.

IBRC currently provides primary servicing for Nama loans with nominal balances of €41 billion and also provides special servicing in the management of over 300 debtors.

While interviews of IBRC staff have begun, Capita would not confirm how many staff would transfer over. Mr Hughes said the transfer could happen on July 1st.

The company announced its plans yesterday in advance of the opening of its new offices in Grand Canal Square by Minister for Finance Michael Noonan. It has signed a lease for 45,000 sq feet of office space previously occupied by law firm Byrne Wallace.

Mr Hughes said 300 new positions should be filled by the end of this year, including the IBRC staff. He said it was also planning to open a new business processing call centre in Ireland, at a location yet to be determined.

Capita has operated in Ireland for about a decade. In 2011, it acquired the international financial services business of AIB, which employed about 100 staff in the IFSC.

Its activities here include asset servicing, funds administration and life and pensions. It holds the contract to operate the Government’s credit guarantee scheme for small businesses.

Mr Hughes said the new office in Dublin would allow for the “partial consolidation” of its activities here. It has five offices in Dublin and Kildare.

Its Irish operation also manages assets across 13 European jurisdictions for a number of leading financial services groups, including Goldman Sachs, Citibank, GE and JP Morgan.

Capita, a FTSE 100 company, recorded a pre-tax profit of £426 million on revenues of £3.3 billion. It employs 52,500 people worldwide.