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Roaring success story set to continue as Ireland's hedge fund industry eyes rampant growth in 2008

Adjusting to change

In 2007, the Irish funds industry turned in a very strong performance to maintain its impressive growth pattern of previous years. Today, the industry services in excess of €1.5tn (Lipper Fitzrovia - June 2007) in approximately 7,500 funds (as at November 2007) and directly employs more than 10,000 people both in Dublin and, increasingly, in regional locations throughout Ireland.

More specifically, approximately one-third of global hedge funds by value and more than 50% of European hedge fund assets are serviced from Ireland, which demonstrates the expertise, capability and servicing standards that are available to fund managers and promoters in the jurisdiction.

2007 was a good year for IDA Ireland, which, as the Irish government’s inward investment agency, experienced considerable interest from both new entrants to the industry and from existing clients wishing to expand their Irish operations. Although the existing infrastructure in Ireland is already well-developed, 2007 saw the arrival of a number of new hedge fund administrators, including LaSalle Bank, Admiral and Apex, to supplement the already impressive list of more than 40 global service providers operating from here. The continued market entry of new service providers, whether fund administrators/custodians or other specialist service providers to the hedge funds industry, is clear evidence of the ongoing strong flow of business into Ireland and of client demand for Irish-domiciled/serviced product. It is also an indication of the funds industry’s ability to successfully address and manage the challenges that face any industry which experiences the phenomenal rate of growth the industry here has in recent years.

One of the ways in which this growth has been managed has been through the ‘regionalisation’ of the industry. In recent years, the service provider infrastructure in Ireland has grown strongly, with many fund administrators (such as The Bank of New York Mellon, State Street, IFS, PFPC, Fortis, Northern Trust and Citco) establishing second, and, in some cases, third operating centres in regional locations in Ireland. This has allowed them to access new pools of labour, to broaden existing linkages with third-level education institutions and to continue to grow their Irish operations in a more cost-effective and controlled manner. This trend continued in 2007, with new operations being established by Daiwa Securities (in Dundalk) and Apex (in Cork), while most of the existing regional operators also experienced significant growth.

As regards to product development initiatives, a number of significant developments occurred during 2007 which further positioned the industry for continued growth. The most important of these perhaps was the introduction of a ‘filing only’ basis of authorisation by the Financial Regulator for Qualifying Investor Funds (QIFs), whereby, under certain conditions, a QIF can now be authorised in Ireland within 24 hours. Since this revised authorisation process was introduced, more than 70 funds and 219 sub-funds have been authorised under this new fast-track process. As fund promoters (particularly institutional investors seeking the added respectability that an EU domicile such as Ireland provides) tend towards creating regulated or ‘onshore’ products, demand for this product is likely to increase considerably.