Fund administration roles
Ireland is increasingly seen as the centre of excellence in the global Funds industry. A huge majority of the world’s fund service providers are now based in Ireland, and the number is only growing. As of Q2 2014 almost 3000 funds containing a staggering €2.95 Trillion are under administration in Ireland.
Currently 46% of the entirety of global hedge funds and 43% of European UCITS, Non-UCITS, MMFs, QIFs & ETF Funds are being administered here too. The Irish Government’s dedication to the competitiveness and ongoing development of the funds industry shows how important the Funds industry is to our economy. Ireland is now the fastest growing UCITS domicile and as a result of this continued growth, demand for talented professionals increased in 2013 and this positive trend and upswing in opportunities is set to continue in 2014.
Over 12,000 people are employed by the Irish funds sector and the demand for Fund Operation professionals in the areas of Fund Accounting, Transfer Agency, Compliance and Compnay Secretarial has continued to grow. This demand is sure to continue, with the number of funds under administration in Ireland almost doubling since pre the 2008 global financial crisis.
Opportunities across mutual, UCITS , Non-UCITS, Mutual and Private Equity Funds are currently looking extremely positive. Presently, the requirement for Company Secretaries (CoSec), Compliance and AIFMD professionals and Trustee to provide advice, counsel and oversight to funds are marginally outweighing the “always in demand” operational roles of Transfer Agency and Fund Accounting as outsourcing and off-shoring began to increase in 2013, with a significant number of fund administrators continuing to move manual functions such as reconciliations and trade processing to offshore locations.
Ireland is gradually evolving as it becomes more adapted to oversight, management and client services. Ireland’s talent pool is strong and the green shoots which appeared last year have continued to become even more robust with salaries and benefits increasing across the board.
