Bill Montgomery, left, and Peter Shepherd of Invest Northern Ireland. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 0764494)

REPRESENTATIVES from Northern Ireland’s economic development agency have been in Guernsey this week trying to drum up business.

Bill Montgomery, director of the international investment division at Invest Northern Ireland, said the visit was about raising awareness around Guernsey’s financial services industry as to what the country could offer local companies in terms of support services such as back-office roles in fund administration.

However, he said it was not their intention to take jobs and positions away from the island.

‘Companies we have spoken to here are still talking about growth and it’s that growth aspect we are after.’

His colleague, INI business development director Peter Shepherd, agreed.

‘We certainly don’t want to compete with Guernsey for job opportunities, but it is perhaps those jobs that are outsourced to other regions such as India that we feel Northern Ireland can offer a competitive back-office option against.

‘We have the benefit of being UK-based using the same language and have lower operational costs in terms of land rent and property rent.’