MORE than 50 jobs have been created as one of Europe's largest data centres opens in North Yorkshire.

TSYS has invested £20m in the Knaresborough centre, which will deal with European-wide credit, debit and retail card transactions.

The company, which is based in Georgia, in the US, provides electronic payment processing and related services and has replaced its temporary facility in Harrogate with the centre in Knaresborough, which was chosen because of its good transport links.

It is the company's third major investment in Yorkshire, having worked closely with regional development agency Yorkshire Forward's Atlanta office and UK Trade and Investment.

Richard Gregory, Yorkshire Forward's deputy chairman, and the town's MP, Phil Willis, opened the centre yesterday.

It is a huge boost for Yorkshire and the Humber's digital industries cluster, which employs almost 80,000 people, generating £3 bn for the area's economy.

Mr Gregory said: "TSYS is a valuable new investment into the region bringing high quality, sustainable jobs in the high growth digital industries sector. It is also a clear recognition of Yorkshire and the Humber's strengths in this field."