The Department of Finance launched a Review of Ireland’s funds sector in April, publishing the terms of reference of ‘Funds Sector 2030: A Framework for Open, Resilient & Developing Markets’ which will produce a report in Summer 2024 aimed at putting in place a framework for Ireland’s $4.6 trillion regulated and unregulated funds sector. In an article opposite the Minister of Finance Michael McGrath asks the industry to challenge the Department’s multi-disciplinary review team in the consultation phase of the study ‘as to how we can adapt the ecosystem we have built here in a way that enables the industry to channel greater levels of investment towards financing our own and international economies.’ The early signs are that many in the industry are up for the challenge - identifying opportunities for growth in new product areas, suggesting improvements to current structures, reiterating the benefits of tax simplification and rationalisation and calling for a focus on the talents that will be required for an industry facing a future that includes such imponderables as the consequences of AI.
We feature the commentary from funds industry leaders here and in this month’s and earlier editions of the Finance Dublin Funds Monitor, asking what areas the review could usefully target to enable the Irish funds industry to both consolidate its positions of strength and manoeuvre itself to take advantage of the rapidly changing investment landscape.