Meliosa O’Caoimh, Country Head – Ireland, Northern Trust: The Irish industry has continued to enjoy growth in assets under management, yet there is no room for complacency. Inflows continue to be very encouraging and we remain focused on meeting our clients’ requirements for choice, flexibility and professional expertise to help them distribute their strategies.
It is essential that the Irish funds industry and us as service providers continue to innovate and improve clients’ experience in order to maintain current success. While their performance may have been relatively static recently, we are confident that the long-term trajectory of product development and growth for MMFs will continue, including through the current consultations on the EU’s MMF Regulation.

MMFs will continue to be a useful part of investors’ toolkits in helping manage cash and liquidity, well-supported by the Irish funds industry and us at Northern Trust.

Ross McCann, Head of Fund Services in Alter Domus Ireland:We see strong growth in equity related funds globally, a trend we have been following for several years now. The low interest rate environment has been one factor that has driven investors to seek returns in a more diversified way. Private equity, real estate, infrastructure, and particularly the debt and private credit sectors have all seen major growth in popularity with increasing allocations from institutional investors.

This represents a fundamental long-term global rebalancing of capital flow rather than a temporary shift. Ireland’s successful performance in growing its equity related funds sector is partially based on an already strong fund services sector and with compelling macro fundamentals overall, and since Brexit, Ireland sits even more distinctively as a gateway to Europe, particularly for US managers.
The Irish fund sector, well supported by the Government and the IDA, has also strongly marketed Ireland as a jurisdiction of choice within Europe. Considering this year’s product enhancements, such as the updated ILP legislation, CBI guidance on share class features of closed-ended QIAIFs, and the new depositary (DAoFI) regime, we expect to see increased traction in the way of fund launches.

Donncha Morrissey, Head of Branch, Sparkasse Bank Malta plc Ireland Branch: Undoubtedly the equity markets have witnessed a rebound in 2020 with continuous growth since the nadir of the Covid crisis in Q1 and Q2 2020. Irish domiciled funds have benefited from this growth as represented by the all-time high NAV value as referenced in the question, most markets benefiting from the market rebound and positive revaluation of equity assets following the volatility of 2020.

It is worth noting that this latest growth in equity markets has been aided also by the significant drop in US interest rates that has seen some reassignment of capital into equity markets that may have been previously expected to be retained in cash instruments.
How should such figures be judged and how should we define success? By peer analysis of course i.e in consideration of the performance of other jurisdictions, and in essence looking at the net positive sales figures of the jurisdiction (as international market upswing should benefit all).

Overall Ireland comes out well having grown by approx. 5% in the period, exceeding the Euro growth of 4.1%. Focusing on those sales figures Ireland saw net sales of +€82.84 bn in Q2 2021, nominally this was second highest in Europe during the period accounting for 36.33% of all net sales in Europe over the period.

On a consolidated basis at a European level total net sales contributed 1.12% growth which Ireland outperformed by reflecting total growth of 5% but 2.25% coming from sales, evidently above the European average. This reflects overall the positive continued performance of Irish domiciled investment funds.

David Dillon, Director (Ireland), MJ Hudson: It is true to say that the NAV value of Irish funds has continued to increase dramatically. I believe this is a function of the infrastructure and resources available to service domiciled funds. It is clear that in recent times support requirements for the funds industry are very significant. I think it is for this reason that Malta, which had aspirations of following in the footsteps of Luxembourg and Ireland has not succeeded in getting a serious foothold as a domicile. It is perhaps for this reason that Luxembourg and Dublin have continued to grow at a remarkable rate.

It would be interesting to speculate if this jurisdiction has been as successful as it might have been, however. Domiciles must continue to adapt and be relevant to the changing environments of an industry. Hopefully the introduction of the ILP will give Ireland another string to its bow.
It must be right that if a domicile can reach a critical mass of notable promoters and registered funds it will benefit from strong market performance and it is true to say that the size of many funds has seen significant growth due to strong market performance, principally in global equities. Even if global equities fall out of favour other asset classes will take their place.

Tadhg Young, Executive Vice President, Country Head – Ireland, State Street: The success of Ireland as a funds domicile is unquestioned, and the trend is for continued growth, no matter what the measure used. Whether it be assets under administration and custody, direct local employment, Exchequer activity, or simply the volume of funds and fund managers seeking Ireland as a location of domicile or service, the graphs are all trending upward.
The overall success of the domicile has long been documented and understood, but now more than ever the ‘stars are aligned’ when it comes to the upward trajectory.

The assets classes and structures that have seen strongest growth globally – ETFs, ESG related product, private assets and illiquid securities – these are all areas in which Ireland offers both specific fund structures to house the assets, but also the expertise across all aspects of service including legal, advisory, taxation, administration, and custody.

This positioning has not happened by chance, rather it is a function of a collaborative effort across the fund’s ecosystem to ensure that Ireland has been best positioned for growth as these new opportunities presented themselves.