CINDE reports: Equifax invests US$ 4.5 million in its services center in Costa Rica

SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica, Sept. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- This Thursday, September 8, multinational financial and information services company, Equifax Inc., inaugurated its second shared services center in the country. The company expects to have 1000 employees by the end of 2017.

This enables Equifax—which has been in Costa Rica since 1995—to continue with the plan it initiated in 2015 to expand operations. In this plan 400 new positions were created to handle the company's growth and diversification of services in areas such as finance, supply and accounting, and to provide more support for information technology areas, information safety, and business operations. Currently 800 people work at the company's facilities.

The Construction of the new building—which is located in the Metropolitan Free Zone in Barreal de Heredia—required an investment of US$ 4.5 million. It has two floors and is approximately 4,400 square meters in size.

Ana Helena Chacón, Acting President of Costa Rica;  Alexander Mora,  Minister of Foreign Trade ; representatives of The Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency,CINDE and noted representatives of the company were present at the inauguration.

On Wednesday, September 7, the President of the Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera, received several of the company's executives at the Casa Presidencial, and showed his pleasure in Equifax's trust in the country. In May 2015, the dignitary visited the company's headquarters during a business trip with CINDE to Atlanta. "We are very pleased with the creation of quality jobs for Costa Ricans. In this government we have practiced a policy of attracting investments, and during 2015 we met with company representatives to make this new process possible, which today we see has become a reality. Equifax is an international company that has been in the country for many years, and we are honored by this sign of confidence in Costa Rica," he said.

Andy Bodea, Director of Global Operations for Equifax, said: "Equifax has had a strong presence in the country for more than 20 years, and we are very proud to expand our investment in the people of Costa Rica, in the community of Heredia, and in our local business. An important factor in the decision to expand our operations here was the high-quality performance and dedication of our Costa Rican employees. We continue to be impressed by the number of well-qualified candidates who apply for the positions we have available. Thanks to excellent cooperation with the government and support from CINDE, we have opened our second building so that we can grow our operations, and we hope to continue strengthening our commitment and long-term relationship with Costa Rica."
From the new services center the company will provide support to its operations in 15 countries in North America, Latin America and Europe, in areas such as cyber safety, corporate services, and client services.

Alexander Mora, Minister of Foreign Trade, received the Equifax expansion announcement as very good news for the country. "Equifax is a worldwide leading company that provides services associated with credit reports. Its long-standing presence in our country and its constant evolution towards more complex and sophisticated processes shows, once again, that Costa Rica is a competitive country with a very favorable investment climate. It is also proof of the great job done by the Costa Rican human talent, every time more prepared to face the changing demands of the market and the environment in which global businesses operate."

According to Jairo Quirós, Director of Equifax's Shared Services Center, the company's rapid growth will result in the creation of 1000 jobs prior to what was initially expected. "We have been able to expand our services portfolio and to create higher-level jobs, while our program of internal promotion and hiring talent with command of the Spanish, English and French languages has allowed us to increase our staff to more than 800 employees, a number that will continue to grow in the coming months," he said.

Jorge Sequeira, Managing Director of CINDE said: "Equifax's growing presence in Costa Rica reflects the dynamism that the services sector has in the country. If we want more companies to establish in Costa Rica and create better paid jobs, we need to graduate more specialized human talent in high-demand careers who also speaks a second language. Companies of the sector have confirmed that jobs opportunities would be opened more rapidly if we had better trained professionals. This is an opportunity that should not be missed."

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SOURCE Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency

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