Insolvency firm to create 60 jobs
Around 60 jobs are to be created in Derry thanks to the misery created by record levels of bankruptcy across the UK.
McCambridge Duffy, the Derry-based licensed insolvency practice, is investing £1.3m (€1.9m) in a new company that is already providing an innovative financial service to clients in both Britain and Northern Ireland.
The investment, supported by Invest NI, will provide the new jobs over three years and was announced by McCambridge Duffy chief executive Colm Duffy.
The new company, Insolvency Service [UK] Ltd, provides a new debt management service in the development of Individual Voluntary Arrangements [IVAs] for other insolvency practices.
An IVA offers the individual an alternative to bankruptcy.
McCambridge Duffy has gained experience in providing a complete service from marketing, research, IVA proposal preparation, creditor approval, supervision and successful completion of IVAs.
The company is now one of the leading providers of debt counselling and insolvency services to individuals in the UK – with over 95% of its clients coming from England and Wales.
Explaining the investment, Mr Duffy said: “In the Derry area whilst we’ve been losing manufacturing jobs we have a very highly educated work pool from which we intend to draw.”
He said the new company would carry forward the experience and expertise McCambridge and Duffy had gained in the provision of IVAs over the past six years.
He pointed out that latest official figures showed bankruptcies were at a record high with over 10,000 in the first three months of the year.
“Our market standing has led to regular approaches from other insolvency companies in the insolvency field for guidance in the production of IVAs for their clients, and has encouraged us to now provide this expertise on a more formal basis from our existing location in Derry,” said Mr Duffy.
IVAs were introduced by the Insolvency Act 1989 in England and Wales – similar legislation came into effect in Northern Ireland in 1991.
They provide an alternative rescue procedure to bankruptcy – it has become accepted practice that the outstanding debts of the person involved must be over £15,000 (€22,000).
Invest NI chairman, Professor Fabian Monds welcomed the investment and said: “McCambridge Duffy has identified and moved quickly to exploit a niche in the market for an expert financial service that will further strengthen its position and provide additional employment in Derry for skilled people.”
He said the investment was a further boost to the drive to promote the North as a cost-effective regional location in the UK for the financial services sector .
