In this issue: Brian Hayes MEP - on the IFS agenda for 2019 and beyond; The IDA's record IFS year in 2018 - IDA Ireland IFS Head, Kieran Donoghue on the Brexit rush and where it is leading potentially; Simmons & Simmons plans for Ireland; Vanguard speaks about their Ireland Manco plans in asset management; basis.point's great year in 2018; 'Behaviour & Conduct' in IFS regulation; Corporation Tax: the ATAD interest deductability and hybrids issues - and the Public Consultation closing on January 18th.

16 January 2019: Deloitte Ireland has announced its current head of its Consulting practice Harry Goddard as its next CEO to succeed Brendan Jennings on 1 June next, following his election by the firm's partners. In addition to leading 750+ professionals in the Irish Consulting practice, Goddard currently heads up Deloitte's technology practice across the EMEA region, which spans over 25 countries and includes over 8,000 technology consultants. He has over 20 years experience in the professional services and consulting industries, and was a key player in the establishment of Deloitte's blockchain lab in Dublin.

11th January 2019: The Central Bank of Ireland has just published a joint statement in relation to the treatment of share cancellation. This is the first time the Central Bank has issued a joint statement with Luxembourg's regulator (the CSSF). The statement is a joint move from the regulators of the main players in Money Market Funds (MMFs) - Ireland and Luxembourg. The statement covered the treatment of share cancellation under the Regulation (EU) 2017/1131 on money market funds. It came from the Central Bank of Ireland and the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, Luxembourg.
Finance Dublin comment: It may be significant in that it represents a subtle development in the evolution of financial services regulation in the European Union. Ireland and Luxembourg are the two main centres for MMFs within a European Union of 27, and certainly would be after Brexit. This evidence of a joint approach between regulators with the major local competence in a particular FS sub sector represents a step in the direction of subsidiarity by the ECB, enabling constituent parts of the EU Bank to pursue areas of maximum competence for individual national regulators, while aiming to ensure that there should be minimal regulatory arbitrage between member states of the putative EU banking and capital markets unions. CBI statement: (11-Jan-2019)

'As an MEP, I have seen first-hand the constant battles to ensure that our financial services model is protected against over burdensome regulation. With the UK no longer at the table from March 2019, fighting some of these battles against large Member States and the Commission is going to be a challenge', Brian Hayes MEP, writes in the January issue. He takes up the role of CEO of the Banking & Payments Federation of Ireland in June 2019, at the end of his current mandate in the European Parliament.

In 2018, IDA Ireland won a record 60 individual investments across banking, payments, insurance, investment management, market infrastructure, aircraft leasing and financial technology. Writing in the January issue, IDA Ireland's IFS chief Kieran Donoghue also says "at present, firms are establishing the foundations of a new or significantly expanded presence in Ireland, while simultaneously meeting CBI substance requirements, reconfiguring their overall EU business and monitoring the tortuous process of the UK exit. When this phase is complete, they will then begin to consider future plans and ways in which to leverage and develop their new Irish entities. To hasten this process, we have already prompted post Brexit conversations with firms around back and middle office activities, product range and distribution, service offering, digital transformation, innovation and optimization". ,

basis.point is the Irish investment funds industry initiative to make a difference by supporting educational programmes for disadvantaged children across Ireland. The geographical reach of basis.point funded programmes has also expanded in 2018 to include Wexford, Waterford, Kilkenny and Galway in addition to the existing locations of Dublin, Cork, Limerick reflecting the funds Industry's footfall throughout Ireland.

Vanguard's Thomas Merz, its head of European Distribution, speaks to Finance Dublin on the industry index and ETF innovator's plans to use its Irish base, in the January 2019 issue. Merz said that Vanguard plans to grow its ETF product line-up: 'We are fans of ETFs both as products, they are transparent, liquid and democratic, and because of their potential to drive the expansion of low-cost investing in Europe. Currently, European investors are mostly serviced through distribution models that are 'pay to play'. This limits the availability of low-cost options for European investors'.

Behaviour and culture have moved steadily up the agenda for financial services firms, with the Central Bank of Ireland indicating that regulated entities can expect more intensive scrutiny of their norms and conduct in 2019. Brian Binchy, EY's head of regulatory advisory says 'it is no longer sufficient for FS leadership teams to pay lip service to cultural change or to regard it as a nebulous peripheral matter' - Finance Dublin, January.

DAVID CLARKE, policy director of the Scottish - Irish Finance Initiative, discusses the channels of mutual benefit in strengthening the links between the Irish and Scottish FS sectors, notably between the Scottish global centre of fund management excellence and the Irish international asset management sector.

In this issue: Special Report: Investment Funds, Ireland 2019. The EU27 Agenda for Ireland's international insurance industry; The Scottish-Irish Finance Initiative sets out plan for post Brexit cooperation between Scottish and Irish FS industries; Jacob Rees-Mogg's Brexit-busting Irish funds vehicle; Finance Act 2018 dissected; 'Real asset' Depositaries given the green light and, the Investment Limited Partnership legislation is promised.

In this issue: The future of aircraft leasing in Ireland, as tax uncertainties cloud the prospect, the industry's fundamental strengths in Ireland remain robust; US Financial Services Regulation - the Republican administration's agenda, as the Mid Term elections produce 'a qualified win' for both sides of the House; The EU's Digital Tax - Ireland and the 'Hanseatic League's opposition to it; Investment Funds: the Government and CBI's track record held to account at FCSDublin, 2018, and much more.

The potential for Ireland to become a leading centre for international insolvency, dispute resolution and financial related legal services within Europe - a significant theme in the forthcoming Financial Centres Summit - has been underscored by the Chief Justice of Ireland, Frank Clarke

A continuing wave of international changes in taxation and substance requirements means that the way things have been done in the past is not necessarily the way they can be done in the future, speakers said at the Aviation Finance Conference 2018, at Dublin Castle. In a scene setting discussion of the agenda for 2019, Ireland's aircraft industry leaders displayed a commanding grasp of the outlook, but were cognisant of the threats to the sector's prosperity.