Barclays Capital has unveiled their plans to recruit 500 IT professionals for a new tech centre in the Ukraine.

BarCap is teaming up with EPAM Systems, the largest and most experienced software engineering services provider in Eastern Europe, which will build and operate the new tech centre in Kyiv. It already employs 50 engineers, but by the end of 2012 that figure will rise to 500. The jobs being created in Kyiv are fairly high-end development roles.

Obviously, it’s not a new phenomenon for banks to look to Eastern Europe for IT functions. BarCap itself already has a technology centre in Prague, as does Commerzbank, while Citigroup and UBS run service centers in Poland. Deutsche Borse also shifted some 270 tech roles from Frankfurt and Luxembourg to Prague in March.

BarCap has cited strong local technical talent and analytical skills available as the primary motivation for the move.

“Obviously, as it’s still a developing country, salaries are likely to be substantially less in the Ukraine, but this is not the only issue,” says Rajeena Brar, consultant at IT think-tank Pierre Audoin Consultants. “It allows them to make better use of a global delivery model and there’s also a huge pool of innovative IT talent in Eastern Europe that banks are keen to gain access to.”