With Ireland’s new Government now in the process of being established the national economic agenda reflects the reality that tax (and the importance of getting corporation tax right, particularly with regard to Ireland’s interface with the USA) is at the centre of that new agenda, and its economic potentials.

There are potential risks to Irish corporate tax revenues from US statements about tariffs and a 15% US corporation tax rate - examined in the November issue of Finance Dublin (see pages 3, 5 in the November issue) but positive and enlightened engagement on the part of the new Irish Government can turn perceived difficulty in effect into opportunity.

Included in the ‘finance agenda’ will be the financial services agenda, and will include the themes highlighted in the review of Ireland’s asset management and investment funds industry, “Funds Sector 2030”, and in the Government’s national payments strategy, also published as one of the last acts of the outgoing Government.

Payments, crypto, and the development and marketing of digitalised assets will be at the centre of industry focus and regulation in the next five years, and what happens in the USA will be critically affected by the regulatory environment there. The announcement by incoming President Trump of the appointment as new chairman of the SEC of Paul Atkins has been marked as significant in financial markets as ushering in a markedly different regulatory approach compared with outgoing chair Gary Gensler.

Paul Atkins and his SEC Commissioner colleagues Dan Gallagher and Jay Clayton have spoken at many Finance Dublin conferences in Dublin Castle, the first two in 2007 and 2008, when Atkins met the then EU Financial Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, discussing the best approach to regulation of credit rating agencies, subsequently identified as a critical issue with regard to the causation of the great financial crisis, and the establishment of capital buffers in ABS issuances. Gallagher, and Clayton have, as Commissioner, and Chairman of the SEC, respectively, consistently championed public markets and consumer protection, particularly in the digital assets and crypto areas.

The impact of the new US administration in the financial services sphere is referenced by FIBI Chair, FERNANDO VICARIO in his article, and the importance and role of public markets for the IFS industry, notably given expression in Ireland by the importance of Ireland as an ETF domicile is reflected in the analysis by Northern Trust’s Jacqueline Wiseman and Rachel Thornton.