IRISH TECHNOLOGY services firm Ergo will create 33 jobs at its Dublin headquarters over the next three years.

The announcement was made at the official opening of its new premises, at which Microsoft also confirmed that Ergo had won its Partner of the Year award.

The new jobs will be in Ergo subsidiary Fenergo which has built a software platform that enables banks to manage their loan books.

Fenergo sells to banks in the UK, central Europe and Asia but Ergo chief executive John Purdy said the roles would be based at its Dublin office.

The banking software business grew out of Ergo’s core IT services business focused on the Irish market, but the financial meltdown of 2008 forced a reassessment and Fenergo was spun out as a separate business.

“At one point we had four of the top sub-prime lenders on our platform – we couldn’t built it fast enough,” says Mr Purdy. “But in July 2008 the bottom fell out of our world and €5 million of pipeline disappeared.”

Ergo entered into an intense period of consultation with customers and concluded that the basic lending platform should be expanded to provide a full management platform that would cover all stages of the lending cycle.

Last year Ergo opened a €1.1 million research and development facility at Dundalk Institute of Technology to support development of the Fenergo product line. That move was supported by €400,000 in grants from Enterprise Ireland.

Mr Purdy said Fenergo had received €2 million in backing from Enterprise Ireland and the European Investment Bank through AIB.

Ergo has also invested €1 million in the venture which is run as an entirely separate unit.

Mr Purdy said Ergo, which focuses on providing hardware, software, managed services and staffing services in the Irish market, was doing well in a “challenging market”.

He said the Microsoft award was recognition of Ergo’s focus on the US company’s technology.

Ergo now employs 125 staff while Fenergo will have about 48 employees following the expansion.