Hedge fund administrator Olympia Capital is the latest Bermuda company to establish a back office in Halifax as the Canadian city continues to build its position as a financial centre.

And New York-based Citco Group, which has a substantial Bermuda office, is also setting up back office facilities in the port city, which has been offering tax breaks to financial services firms to counter a brain drain and to offset declines in its traditional industries.

The announcements come after Butterfield Bank announced last week that it was establishing a fund administration centre in Halifax, which could end up employing 700 staff, with the bank receiving a payroll tax break of up to $9.1 million.

Bermuda-based West End Capital also plans to establish an office in Halifax, employing up to 75 people, although it was not clear whether that included staff employed by affiliated company Flagstone Re.

A statement from Nova Scotia Business Inc. said Olympia will bring up to 150 new jobs to Halifax and will receive a maximum payroll tax rebate of $1.5 million over a five year period.

The company is expanding its Toronto-based financial services division, OC Financial Services.

?This announcement is a great example of people and organisations working together to attract new companies, create new jobs and support continuing economic development,? said Economic Development Minister Richard Hurlburt. ?By offering a recruitment and training incentive, the province is giving our recent graduates the skills they need to excel in areas like the hedge fund industry.?

In addition to its new Halifax operations, Olympia Capital also has about 200 employees in other countries and cities including Bermuda, Dublin, Toronto and New York. Since 1998, OC Financial Services has been operating in Toronto, which is currently its only major support operation in Canada, the statement said.

?We are pleased to expand our business in Canada and build on the centuries-old relationship between Bermuda and Nova Scotia,? said Raymond Morrison, president of Olympia Capital (Bermuda) Limited and global chief operating officer of Olympia?s group of companies. ?By choosing Halifax and tapping into the highly skilled workforce, our company will be able to grow our overall operations.?

?This is another step in our efforts to build a world class financial services sector in the province,? said Stephen Lund, president and CEO of NSBI.

Citco hopes to be up and running in downtown Halifax at the end of January or the beginning of February and plans to hire up to 350 people with the help of a $7 million payroll tax rebate over the next seven years, according to the Halifax Daily News.

The newspaper said salaries in the high-end financial jobs will be about double the local average of roughly $28,000.

?We think there?s a significant opportunity for Halifax and for Nova Scotia to be positioning ourselves as a world financial centre. It?s not a big leap to say that,? said Mr. Lund said, adding NSBI has been working on Citco for about six months and has been targeting the biggest companies around the Caribbean.

?We?re not trying to raid Bermuda. We?re trying to give these guys an option for growth.?

Stephen Lund, president and CEO of NSBI, said just as Ireland has established itself as a world leader in the financial services industry, he envisions a real potential for that kind of success in Nova Scotia.

?Nova Scotia has the raw materials in place to become a financial leader and Citco is a major step in the right direction,? said Mr. Lund.