Canadian payment systems company Transax to set up business in Barcelona's 22@ technological district

La Seu d’Urgell (ACN).- The Canadian company Transax, working on creating mobile applications and payment systems, will arrive in the Catalan capital in July, according to an announcement made on Friday by the Catalan Business Minister, Felip Puig. Transax will start by creating 75 direct jobs but its plans are to gradually increase staff figures. Transax will operate from Barcelona to Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. The Catalan Government’s Invest in Catalonia programme has facilitated the Canadian company’s arrival. Furthermore, Felip Puig emphasised that Catalonia was the region that received the greatest direct foreign investment in 2012 in continental Europe, according to a report by the Financial Times. According to the 2013 FDI Markets report (with data from 2012), Catalonia received €2.247 billion, ranking above West-Nederland, the Madrid region, Île-de-France, North-Rhine Westphalia or the Brussels region. Catalonia also led the ranking of jobs created by foreign direct investment in continental Europe. In addition, according to ERNST &Young’s European Investment Monitor, Catalonia attracted 116 foreign investment projects last year, being the third European region to attract the largest number of such projects after Greater London and Île-de-France. In addition, in 2012, Catalonia attracted 16% more projects than in 2011. In this vein, Puig stated that Catalonia’s self-determination process has not stopped foreign investment.

At the Pyrenees’ Business Meeting, attended by more than 700 business executives, and organised each year in La Seu d’Urgell (near Andorra), Felip Puig announced that Transax will set up its business activities for Europe, the Middle East and Latin America in Barcelona. Transax mostly works in creating payment systems and it has developed technology to transform a cell-phone into a device authorising credit card payments. The Canadian company will have its offices in the Catalan capital’s 22@technological district, which host many multinational companies.

In fact, a few days ago Cisco Systems announced that it was also opening a business and innovation centre there. This district and the entire city of Barcelona are attracting more and more technological companies, since every year Barcelona hosts the Mobile World Congress – the main international event of the mobile industry – and it has been declared the Mobile World Capital. In fact, Barcelona is gradually becoming an international centre for the mobile industry and technological companies in its own right. It will soon unveil the Mobile World Hub, which aims to host the industry’s international regulator, among many other projects.