Software firm vows to create 500 jobs

A SWISS firm has opened a software development centre which will create 500 jobs in Edinburgh.

Avaloq Innovation chose the site for the centre because of the high number of IT professionals in the capital.

The company, which creates software for banks, will employ 400 software engineers during the first four years, growing to around 500 in four to seven years.

It plans to recruit 75 graduate trainees in the first year of operation.

Finance secretary John Swinney opened the new facility yesterday.

He said: “This is only the second such site for Avaloq anywhere in the world and the first outside their home country of Switzerland.

“Avaloq have chosen to locate their new software development centre in Edinburgh and to recruit 75 graduates from our universities, which is testament to the high quality of Scottish education and enhances the strength of the city’s international reputation for finance and IT services.”

Scottish Development International and Scottish Enterprise have been working with the firm since November 2010, providing advice on recruitment and location.