SQA Consulting, the business and technology transformation and financial crime prevention (anti-money laundering) software company, working with ABC TECH Group has established a joint venture company, SQA Consulting SEE in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The new company will create 75 UK-based new jobs.
The organisation will be a centre of excellence for software development and will subsume ABC TECH’s software development division in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as its hubs in Kosovo and Croatia – in excess of 50 technology professionals. Total investment from both parties will exceed EUR 3 million in the next two years.
Combined, SQA’s international market presence and ABC TECH’s software engineering capabilities in the region will drive recruitment in excess of a further 100 engineers in the Balkans, and 75 cyber security, cloud migration engineers, intelligent business process automation specialists and management roles in its Manchester-based headquarters. With year-on-year growth, the new company will further extend its global transformation and product engineering delivery capability.
Jeremy Round, managing director, SQA Consulting said: “Our Anti Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing products and services are deployed for most account holders in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and this partnership underpins the strong international growth we have seen over the last few years. AML & TF is one of the worlds biggest financial concerns with an estimated cost to the UK Government alone of £100 billion a year (UK National Crime Agency). Technology is an essential part of the fight against this financial crime and SQA Consulting is proud to work with banks to form national and international defences.”
Steve Ruston, chief transformation officer, SQA Consulting said: “The new joint venture will allow us to further scale our transformation consulting and product engineering capabilities to keep pace with the needs of cyber security in the global banking and financial services sector, allowing us to grow SQA Consulting in line with the demand we are seeing for our transformation services and software. It’s an exciting time and we’re already planning further expansion and acquisitions in the UK, Europe and further afield.”
For ABC TECH Group it means that it completes the final step in the transformation process into a product-based banking technology company. It will continue to trade concentrating on its banking products and solutions, but like SQA Consulting, it will consume development service from the new company – SQA Consulting SEE to engineer new products.
Goran Bosankić, CEO of the ABC TECH Group adds: “With this collaboration our employees will be able to further showcase their expertise whilst delivering for large scale international enterprise clients in various industries making this new company one-stop-shop for high-end digital transformation services, attracting both new clients and top talent at the same time.”
Matt Field, British Ambassador to Bosnia & Herzegovina said: “I am delighted to welcome SQA Consulting to our growing family of UK tech investors in Bosnia & Herzegovina. COVID19 has caused many disruptions to businesses around the world but has also opened up some new and exciting global digital transformation opportunities.
“I am glad that SQA and partner ABC TECH were quick to seize the opportunities in the region. This venture is set to create more jobs for talented and inspiring people for this country and I look forward to seeing them grow over the coming years.”