US company to locate global IT and cybersecurity centre at Belfast Harbour

A US Fortune 500 company has signed a 10-year lease with Belfast Harbour to locate a global IT and cybersecurity centre which will create 130 jobs at a waterfront development.

Aflac Northern Ireland, a subsidiary of Georgia-headquartered Aflac Incorporated, has signed the lease with Belfast Harbour for more than 11,000sq ft of office space at its City Quays development.

Aflac Incorporated provides supplemental health insurance to customers in the US and Japan.The group assists people to cover medical expenses outside of their standard health insurance schemes.

Aflac, which is ranked at 143 on the Fortune 500 list, ahead of Tesla, first confirmed plans to invest in the North last October.

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Keith Farley, managing director and vice-president of Aflac Northern Ireland, said its lease agreement with Belfast Harbour was “another sign of our commitment to the long-term success of this centre and the community of Belfast”.

Client base

Aflac’s Belfast centre will work alongside the group’s existing cybersecurity and innovation teams in the US and Japan to support its client base of more than 50 million people worldwide.

Joe O’Neill, CEO of Belfast Harbour, is delighted the US group has chosen to locate in City Quays, which is an ongoing £250 million development project led by the harbour to regenerate 20 acres of former shipping land close to Belfast city centre.

Mr O’Neill said the development already had a wide range of tenants, including the Marriott Hotel group, Baker McKenzie and the broadcasting organisation ITV.

“There are currently over 5,500 workers based in City Quays and Clarendon Dock, and our ambition is that City Quays on completion will accommodate 13,000 people living and working on Belfast’s waterfront.”