Irish Fund Industry Continues To Grow
Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Total assets of Irish-domiciled funds topped one trillion Euros at the end of November, 2010, while total assets under administration reached EUR1.8 trillion, according to the Irish Funds Industry Association.

BNY Mellon retained the top spot among fund administrators for the fourth year, looking after 960 funds and more than EUR300bn in assets, according to Lipper's 2011 Ireland Fund Encyclopaedia

"Despite the ongoing economic challenges in Ireland, the funds industry continues to thrive and play an increasingly important role in the wider European industry, with client confidence steadily improving. In 2011 we continued to invest in Ireland to ensure our clients had access to a highly skilled and dedicated workforce as well as the most sophisticated risk analytical, measurement and reporting tools they need to address increasing industry regulations," said Rachel Turner, Head of BNY Mellon's Fund Servicing team in Ireland.

"Our number one ranking for combined domiciled and non-domiciled funds is indicative of our commitment to delivering excellent service and support to our clients as they continue to demand transparency, greater control and more robust governance frameworks for their alternative investments," added Mark Mannion, Head of Relationship Management EMEA for BNY Mellon Alternative Investment Services.

Meanwhile Lipper has PricewaterhouseCoopers as the leading fund auditor, with over 1,600 funds in its portfolio, 600 of them being non-Irish.

Speaking about the announcement, Damian Neylin, Partner, Leader for Asset Management, PwC Ireland said: "We are delighted with these results it highlights that despite the continuing wider economic uncertainty, funds have proved surprisingly resilient. Ireland is home to one of the world's largest funds administration hubs with over US$1.8 trillion of funds administered here. It is reassuring that we are continuing to see excellent growth in the numbers of funds locating here. We see demand for funds servicing, with major funds servicing companies continuing to expand their activities in Dublin and regional parts of Ireland."

"However, having regard to the uncertainty within the EU and the UK and other looming tax and regulatory changes, the next 12 months will be challenging. But the Irish funds industry has proved itself capable of significant flexibility and great innovation in the past. With our highly skilled talent pool, transparent tax regime and greater cost competitiveness, the industry has proven itself to be very resilient during the current financial downturn. Key growth opportunities do exist, for example, from new markets such as Asia, Islamic finance and from servicing the international pensions funds. It will be key for the industry, Government, agencies and service providers to continue to work together to promote Ireland and our centre of excellence for funds.