Douglas Boyce, formerly of Interactive Investor and FNZ, has been appointed as chief executive officer of HALO Invest.
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The project to establish the Glasgow centre is expected to cost around £8 million, and is being supported by £800,000 of grant funding from Scottish Enterprise.
Mr 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.”
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He declared: “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.”
HALO Technologies, founded in 2017, 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”.
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Mr Paxton said: “The launch of HALO Invest in the United Kingdom 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. We know that Glasgow, a world-class city with a highly skilled workforce, will make the perfect base for our UK operations.”
Scottish employment and investment minister Tom Arthur said: ““HALO Invest is a growing international company, and the selection of Glasgow for its latest base is a vote of confidence in the city and will create-high quality jobs.”
He flagged the 2024 EY Scotland attractiveness survey, which was published last month. This showed Scotland retained its position as second only to London among UK locations in attracting new inward investment projects. It also revealed that Scotland won a record number of foreign direct investment projects in 2023.
Mr Arthur said yesterday of the HALO Invest news: “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.
“The Scottish Government is focused on driving innovation, securing investment, and increasing entrepreneurial activity. With our partners at Scottish Enterprise, we will continue to ensure Scotland is recognised as offering the innovation, skills and expertise that global fintech firms need when setting up a new base.”
Scottish Enterprise said Scotland is home to more than 220 fintech companies, “making it the largest hub outside of London”.
