US giant may bring jobs bonanza

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/6163127.stm

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Hundreds of jobs could be created if one of the world's biggest financial services companies is established in Northern Ireland.

JP Morgan, which has assets of £7bn, is considering setting up an operation in Northern Ireland, the BBC has learned.

It is thought the secretary of state has held talks with senior executives.

JP Morgan said it has no plans to open an office in Belfast. The economic development agency, Invest NI, denied it was in negotiations with JP Morgan.

Invest NI said it was developing relationships with a range of global financial services companies, and these relationships were at different stages.

Invest NI's chief executive Leslie Morrison used to work for JP Morgan, which employs more than 90,000 in about 50 countries.

JP Morgan is involved in investment banking, financial services and asset management. Its clients including big companies, institutions, governments and some of the world's richest people.

Tycoon

BBC Northern Ireland business correspondent Yvette Shapiro said: "Discussions with the firm are still at a very early stage.

"But Invest NI hopes that JP Morgan will follow the lead of another huge US banking organisation, Citigroup, which employs over 300 people in a back office operation in Belfast's Titanic Quarter."

JP Morgan was founded in the 1860s by the American financier and railroad tycoon John Pierpoint Morgan.

In 1902 he bought the White Star line and funded the building of the Titanic in Belfast.