LSEG officials (from left) Executive Director Exchange Technology Duminda Liyanwela, Group Head of Shared Services Martin Ryan and Business Services Limited Sri Lanka Country Head Rohan Paulas explaining the venture to the journalists at a press briefing in Colombo yesterday

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) yesterday said it would be setting up a state-of-the-art facility in Colombo to run its capital market infrastructure business. This would be the first-of-its-kind LSEG is setting up, LSEG Group Head of Shared Services Martin Ryan told reporters in Colombo, yesterday. The facility will provide backbone services for exchanges and clearing houses worldwide and is planning to employee 400 Sri Lankans.

The facility, which will be located in a two to three-acre land in Tripoli Market area in Maradana, is scheduled to go live from this September. The LSEG officials, who met the media to announce the venture, after a meeting with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, however did not disclose the size of the investment LSEG is putting in, though they said it would be “significant”. They commended the prime minister and the government for the swift facilitation of the project and asserted it would function as a launch pad for Sri Lanka to achieve its goal of becoming a knowledge economy.

The LSEG officials said it would be soon signing agreements with the Board of Investment (BoI) and Urban Development Authority (UDA) to kick start the project. The government has already agreed to lease out the required land at the Tripoli Market premises on a 10-year lease, they said. “This would be the first time a brand like LSEG is operating in Sri Lanka in this scale. So we hope, this would provide impetus for other major brands to follow,” LSEG Business Services Limited Sri Lanka Country Head Rohan Paulas said. According to him, the first customer of the project will be London Clearing House.

The project is slated to develop high-end technology skills for Lankans and LSEG hopes that Sri Lankans, who are working in similar fields, to return to the island to grab the opportunities offered. “By the first quarter of 2017, we hope to complete the recruitment. Initially there will be people coming from London to train those who we hire locally. After that it will be totally in the hands of the locals,” LSEG Executive Director Exchange Technology Duminda Liyanwela said. He said the relatively higher rankings of the country in global business indices, skilled workforce and Colombo being three to four hours ahead of London were the key attractions for the project to be housed in Sri Lanka. He also said Sri Lanka’s Millennium IT, a unit of LSEG, will remain as a separate entity, which produces world-class software solutions for global capital markets. Headquartered in the UK, LSEG is a leading market infrastructure business, which has significant operations in North America, Italy, France and Sri Lanka. The group employs approximately 5,500 people worldwide.