UK based financial market consultancy Catalyst is coming to Lithuania

Vilnius has been chosen as the first nearshore consulting hub of UK-based financial markets consultancy Catalyst Development Ltd (hereinafter ‘Catalyst’). The plans are to hire around 30 staff over the next three years, including highly skilled business analysts and consultants.

Catalyst’s specialty is regulatory-driven change, organisational improvement, technology and talent development. Its clients include investment banks, clearing houses and exchanges, institutional investors, asset and wealth managers. With its headquarters in London, the company operates worldwide; it holds the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in recognition of its global impact. In addition to its headquarters in London, the new hub in Lithuania, the company has an offshore base in Jersey, a permanent presence in Tokyo. According to Catalyst, Vilnius is to become company’s first stop towards its further expansion.

According to Stephen Loosley, Catalyst’s Managing Director, Catalyst is growing ‘specialism at scale’ across all our markets and services.

 “As part of that we are currently making a number of strategic acquisitions and opening in new locations. Interestingly, Vilnius entered our initial list of possible nearshore destinations on the recommendation of a Lithuanian member of staff. We then followed a detailed selection process, shortlisting Belfast, Warsaw, Galway and Vilnius. Vilnius was our clear choice because of its infrastructure, cost-competitiveness and expansive pool of highly educated potential hires with both the skills and the English language proficiency we need. The support we received from Invest Lithuania was instrumental in our decision, helping us gain a clear understanding of the city’s business environment and impressive talent pool and we are very grateful for their advice,” says Stephen Loosley, Catalyst’s Managing Director.

Vilnius-based staff will work remotely on a variety of client projects and there will also be the opportunity of fly-in/fly-out trips to London and major financial centres worldwide. The Catalyst hub is also intended to open-up new opportunities to provide consulting services to financial markets firms operating within the Baltic and Nordic regions. In opening this nearshore consulting hub, Catalyst have moved beyond the traditional nearshore model of outsourcing and shared services to offer a new model of true consultancy, servicing international financial markets clients through blended teams across its London, Jersey and Lithuanian bases.

“By choosing Lithuania as a nearshore consulting hub, not only did the Catalyst show its trust in the business analysts‘ proficiency available in the country but it also highlighted an an important trend in the process of foreign direct investment. The Catalyst is coming to Lithuania because one of its staff of the Lithuanian origin was successful in defending the case of Vilnius. When it comes to foreign direct investment – Lithuania should strengthen the ties with its nationals abroad and unlock the potential its diaspora has to offer, following the example set by Ireland”, says Virginijus Sinkevičius, Lithuania’s Minister for Economy.

“The fact that that leading financial consulting company will be relying on the local financial talent speaks volumes of our country,” claims Mantas Katinas, Managing Director of the foreign investment development agency Invest Lithuania.