‘World best’ Scotland wins 500 jobs

First Minister Alex Salmond announced the scheme, which will see the jobs created at a new development centre in Edinburgh for Zurich-based Avaloq, a specialist provider of software to banks and financial institutions across the world.

The firm will recruit 500 staff to work as software experts and engineers in central Edinburgh. It will be the company’s first development centre outside of its Swiss base.

Avaloq executives said the firm had opted for the Scottish capital, rather than Brazil or the Philippines, because of a vast supply of “skilled, hard working” employees in Scotland.

Avaloq chief executive Francisco Fernandez said that the Scottish Government contributed £1.74m to the investment package.

The company launched its jobs recruitment process yesterday, starting with an immediate move to find 75 new graduates from Scottish universities.

A further 20 staff will be hired to work at the Avaloq plant by Christmas, with the rest of the 500 employees taken on in batches of around 20 to 30 until all the posts are filled within five years.

Mr Salmond, speaking at the launch of the scheme yesterday, said Avaloq’s decision to base itself in the Scottish capital was “testament to the high quality of Scottish education” and enhanced the strength of the city’s international reputation for finance and IT services.

He said: “I take great pleasure in welcoming Avaloq to our capital city and this is exactly the sort of investment that’s welcome.

“This is a substantial number of training positions being created by a well-respected international software company, whose solutions are used by dozens of banks in more than 20 countries worldwide.”

Mr Salmond added Scotland and Switzerland “have a great deal to offer” by working together on investments such as the Avaloq plans for an Edinburgh base.

Mr Fernandez said: “A key factor in our success story has been people, people and people. We have found the right people here in Scotland. It’s very important to have the best engineers in the world.”

Simon Kauth, Avaloq head of development for Scotland, said: “People may ask themselves why move to Edinburgh when there are so many other places to go.

“We thought about Brazil and the Philippines, but we decided to go to Scotland. The first reason is that we are running out of skilled engineers and business analysts.

“We are trying to find good, skilled, hard-working people here in Scotland.”

Chief executive of Scottish Enterprise Lena Wilson said that the body had “successfully fought to bring these jobs to Scotland.”

She added: “In doing so, Scotland beat a number of other international locations and Avaloq’s decision to invest here is testament both to our strong software skills base and Edinburgh’s reputation as the leading UK financial centre outside of London.”