Joe Humphreys

Derry has beaten Delhi in a contest to land 400 new jobs in mortgage servicing with the announcement by UK-based company Homeloan Management Limited (HML) to open new premises in Northern Ireland.

The company, which also employs 900 people in England and Scotland, said its £9.5 million (€13.7million) investment in the North "bucks the trend of many financial services companies and other businesses that are relocating their back-office functions and call centres to India and other remote locations, attracted by much lower salary costs and overheads".

The new jobs, which will be created over the next three years, are expected to generate more than £5 million for the local economy in salaries alone. Recruiting is to take place in the Republic, as well as the North, as part of a drive by the company to increase its profile throughout Ireland.

HML, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Skipton Building Society, north Yorkshire, processes and administers mortgages on behalf of more than 30 UK financial institutions.