Dow Jones is reporting plans by ING to set up a central European processing centre in Hungary within the next month as part of a global effort to consolidate back office operations group-wide.
The new central European processing centre will handle back office activities for Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, says the wire report. It will process domestic and international transfers, credit transactions, foreign exchange operations, and other financial transactions currently handled separately in each country.
At a press conference announcing the initiative, ING's director for international operations Erik Dralans, is quoted as saying: "We picked Hungary for several reasons. It has highly qualified labour, young people that speak many languages and low cost level."
The move is part of a group-wide effort to consolidate back office operations across 40 seperate centres into four regional hubs. Other centres will be located in Amsterdam, Singapore, and the Americas.
The Budapest centre will cost HUF500 million, says the Dow Jones report, with the Hungarian government contributing HUF180 million as an an investment incentive and for training purposes.
The newswire says the unit will initially employ 130 staff, but will be expanded to 400 by the end of 2005.