Morgan Stanley, the big U.S. investment bank, will build a $200-million high-tech centre in Montreal to support its New York-based global operations, it announced Thursday. Up to 500 jobs will be created.

"We look forward to growing our platform here to complement our existing technology and business services centres around the world," said Jim Rosenthal, a managing director at Morgan Stanley.

The announcement came at a news conference attended by Quebec Premier Jean Charest and the province's Finance Minister, Monique Jerome-Forget.

Jerome-Forget said the province will give the company up to $60 million in tax credits over the next six years — an investment she said will pay big dividends.

"The difference in productivity is largely due to information technology and we felt that it was a wise move to move in that direction to make sure that Canada, certainly Quebec, becomes more productive," she told reporters.

Morgan Stanley's Rosenthal said it was the tax credits that made the new centre possible.

Morgan Stanley said it plans to hire mathematicians and computer science engineers. It's now looking for a location.

The investment bank has other technology centres in Budapest, Glasgow, India and Shanghai.