FINANCIAL technology company Beeks Financial Cloud has said it expects to recruit 30 staff to work at a new operations centre in Linwood as the company expands into China.

Beeks, which provides cloud-based systems that allow financial institutions to execute trades online quickly, has established a data centre in Hong Kong as part of its push into global markets.

Led by chief executive Gordon McArthur, Beeks offers clients access to specialist servers located close to trading exchanges, which it says enable users to complete trades in time to capitalise on small movements in prices.

The Hong Kong centre is the eighth opened by Beeks, which also has operations in Germany, the USA and Japan.

Mr McArthur said: “We believe China represents a significant growth market for us, both in terms of securing new broking clients within China and enabling our existing clients to trade more effectively and securely in the Chinese market.”

Beeks said staff in the new centre in Linwood will provide help desk services and technical support for the eight centres.

Founded in 2011, the company employs 40 people currently with 20 based in Linwood.

The company has 300 institutions and around 7,000 private traders on its books.

It generates £5 million turnover and is profitable.

Beeks provides an example of how firms in Scotland have capitalised on advances in technology to develop businesses serving specialised niches of the financial services sector.

Financial technology (Fintech) has been identified as an important growth sector for Scotland. But experts have voiced concern the Brexit vote may pose challenges for firms if access to the single European market is lost.

Mr McArthur said he was not concerned about the implications of the Brexit vote for the business as trading volumes would likely hold up around the world.