The Finance Dublin Yearbook 2023 is the 30th edition of the Yearbook, first published in 1991 four years after the designation of a Government-sponsored initiative, the ‘IFSC’ in 1987. Since 1987, coinciding with the establishment by the Irish state in conjunction with the EU, then the EEC, of an international financial services centre in Dublin, Ireland, Finance (Dublin), has chronicled the evolution of financial services in Ireland in its wider international context. At the heart of the Yearbook are the profiles of the companies, organisations, and people that make up the centre, which now incorporates the entire jurisdiction of Ireland.

As 2023 dawns, the FS industry is operating in a world that still is dominated by a major European war, with consequent reverberations in markets, notably in the form of the twin threats of recession and inflation. These are set to continue to remain themes in the markets that Ireland’s open economy exists and thrives in, in 2023 but underlying this, the pulse of business remains strong in Ireland’s financial and professional services industries. For the financial services industry the repressed post Covid global economic outlook also continues to overhang markets, and this is reflected in consolidation moves affecting the Irish-domiciled industry, as well as uninterrupted technical change developments in fintech, in asset management, insurance, capital markets and finance. Supplementing these trends is a regulatory and governance agenda that can provide a basis for all those working in the industry and in the 500 plus enterprises and bodies profiled in this Yearbook, with a regulatory framework that can offer huge business opportunities for a globally focused industry.

We asked the newly appointed Minister of State for Financial Services, insurance and Credit Unions, JENNIFER CAROLL MACNEILL to provide a number of perspectives on key aspects of her portfolio as she took office in January, in response to a number of Questions submitted by Finance Dublin.

BRIAN HAYES, Banking & Payments Federation Ireland’s Chief Executive, on the establishment of Ireland as a global and EU hub for international finance, the growing high-skill workforce and the importance of taking the lead on sustainability. The Federation of International Banks Ireland (FIBI), an affiliate of Banking & Payments Federation Ireland, represents over 30 international banking members including many of the largest financial service providers in the world.

Meliosa O’Caoimh, current chair of the 30% Club’s Ireland Chapter, outlines the organisation’s evolving focus and shares her perspective on encouraging diversity, equality & inclusion in financial services, including from experiences in her role as Country Head, Ireland at Northern Trust.

Despite a more difficult global economic environment in 2022 investment by global financial services firms in Ireland saw substantial growth writes MAEVE MCCONNON, Department Manager in the International Financial Services Division of IDA Ireland. “The international financial services sector in Ireland has been growing for four decades and it will continue to grow, despite current challenges”, she says.

Despite the challenges posed by the uncertain economic and political environment EY Financial Services Country Leader COLIN RYAN is optimistic about the possibilities of meeting them. He outlines key areas of focus that present opportunity for FS firms in 2023 and beyond while developing sustainable organisations and business models.

With BNP Paribas celebrating 50 years in Ireland during 2023, the leaders of the bank’s Irish businesses, led by Ireland head Derek Kehoe, outline the growth of the business in Ireland and profile their businesses and service offerings, and the wider role each plays in BNP Paribas’ broad international network.

The Irish Agri-Food and Beverage industries are core strategic elements of Ireland’s economy writes Goodbody Stockbrokers’ Joe Gill. Yet this vital component of the Irish economy must navigate a pathway through sustainability that allows it prosper and add economic value while developing practices and systems that advance an ESG agenda. Financiers and investors will play a key role in that journey he writes.

Investec’s Aisling Dodgson says policy responses to dampen rising prices mean we are likely at, or nearing, peak inflation. While the headwinds of labour shortages, supply chain constraints and geopolitics knock global GDP estimates, there is optimism that the latter half of 2023 could see Central Banks beginning to bring interest rates down.

The COVID pandemic, the two year grounding of Boeing’s game changing MAX aircraft, Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, rapidly rising interest rates and fears of recession have all played havoc, in their different, ways with global commercial aviation writes JOHN STANLEY. But they have also demonstrated, beyond any reasonable doubt, two startling truths. The industry as a whole is far more than a business, it is a robust infrastructure that has become intrinsic to the social and economic fabric of the modern world. And the international aircraft leasing industry, which conducts the majority of its business from Ireland, has certainly come of age.

 

The EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) will significantly increase transparency around sustainability and investments writes Mazars Michael Tuohy but he says that the new rules cannot be taken as a ‘tick-the-box’ compliance exercise by asset managers. Rather they should form part of a strategic direction. He outlines the implementation timeline of the rules, the requirements, remaining uncertainties in interpretation and the considerations for Level 2 disclosures.

With the EU’s ESG reporting framework taking shape, accountable bodies need to understand the unprecedented levels of disclosure and reporting that will be required under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). McCann FitzGerald’s Éamon Ó Cuív reviews the history of the regulatory developments and says companies must plan to meet the detailed accountability requirements that the EU Commission will require under the Directive in the years to come.

With the emphasis on corporate culture from regulators growing, A&L Goodbody LLP’s James Grennan considers the evolution of the trend since the financial crisis, noting the approaches of the Dutch and Irish Central Banks. He puts forward an appraisal checklist for relevant institutions, which has application far beyond his own specialist sector, insurance.

2022 saw a wide array of changes for Ireland’s insurance sector, both on the domestic and European front, writes William Fry’s Eoin Caulfield. He reviews the major legal, regulatory and market developments, including slower but still busy M&A activity levels, and how they will influence the coming months and years for the sector.

Changing regulations and increased supervisory scrutiny around how firms are carrying out their Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism obligations underlines the need for a robust AML risk assessment framework write Mazars’ Kian Caulwell and Cara Hyland. They outline that risk assessment should be seen as the most critical component of a firm’s AML/CFT framework and one that can help protect it from potential financial, reputational and operational harm, they write.