Fintech HALO Invest to set up new UK centre

The project is expected to cost around £8 million and is being supported by £800,000 of grant funding from Scottish Enterprise

HALO Invest has announced its intention to set up a new operations and development centre in Glasgow (UK) – and create over 60 jobs over the next two years.

Douglas Boyce, formerly of Interactive Investor and FNZ, has been appointed chief executive of HALO Invest, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sydney-headquartered fintech company HALO Technologies.

The project is expected to cost around £8 million and is being supported by £800,000 of grant funding from Scottish Enterprise.

Boyce said: We had the opportunity to locate anywhere in the UK, but Glasgow demonstrated itself as the ideal city for us to base ourselves with its well-established mix of financial services and fintech talent.

HALO Invest will be Glasgow’s first purpose-built investment platform and we know that just being here will significantly increase our chances of success, he said.

HALO Technologies is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Its chief executive George Paxton believes that HALO Invest can help its parent company extend its reach into untapped markets by leveraging its expertise and brand reputation.

Paxton said: The launch of HALO Invest in the UK in January of this year represented a key strategic milestone in our continued growth.

With a solid platform of ongoing success in the Australian market on which to build, we are looking forward to taking our unique product offerings to the UK, he said.

We know that Glasgow, a world class city with a highly skilled workforce, will make the perfect base for our UK operations, he added.

Employment and Investment Minister Tom Arthur said: HALO Invest is a growing international firm and the selection of Glasgow for its latest base is a vote of confidence in the city and will create high quality jobs.

This announcement further underlines Scotland’s reputation as a centre for innovative fintech businesses and its position as the UK’s most attractive location for inward investment outside London, he added.

Scottish Enterprise’s support for HALO Invest is part of the economic development agency’s new missions-based approach. One of its aims is to double the number of scale-up businesses operating in Scotland over the next decade by focusing on industries where Scotland has global strengths; of which fintech is one.