Business News

Minister D’Arcy travels Europe to promote Irish financial services

By Business & Finance
19 September 2017
payments

Michael D’Arcy TD, Minister of State for Financial Services, continues his programme of official engagements promoting Irish financial services.

He will follow his address to the inaugural “Sustainable Nation Ireland” Embassy dinner last evening by making a round of engagements in relation to his financial-services scheme.

This will involve informal events and meetings with London-based expats and companies within the financial services sector. Included in this is a follow-up to previous ministerial contacts with the European Banking Authority (EBA).

Minister D’Arcy said: “The constantly-changing narrative around Brexit requires us to continuously update our assessment of the government’s priorities. This requires ongoing and in-depth engagement with key stakeholders. This feedback will in turn inform the current process of identifying measures to make up the 2018 Action Plan under the government’s five-year strategy for the sector, IFS 2020. Our bid for the EBA also speaks to the high-level strategy objective to consolidate and enhance Ireland’s standing as a leading European financial centre. I look forward to putting forward the case for Dublin with our member state counterparts in Copenhagen and Bucharest later this week.”

The wider programme includes an Enterprise Ireland (EI) programme on the 20 and 21 September targetting businesses in the DOCH region (Germany (D), Austria (O) and Switzerland (CH)), this being EI target markets. This event will be taking place in Zurich; the aim is to showcase EI client companies to these markets, expand client interest and showcase the advantages of doing business with Ireland.

Minister D’Arcy also noted: “This EI programme is both the culmination of and a jumping-off point for Irish State Agency activity in this region. A culmination in terms of the work gone into cultivating opportunities for Irish companies to explore new markets, and a jumping-off point in how to ensure that connections made take root as lasting and mutually-beneficial business relationships. I am pleased to learn of a considerable uptick in EI activity in these important markets. I view this as a tangible indicator of the need to continue to intensify the implementation of our market-diversification strategy to offset the downside effects of a hard Brexit on our domestic economy.”

The event in Zurich will finish with a seminar and networking dinner hosted by the Ireland Ambassador to Switzerland and Minster D’Arcy.

Minister D’Arcy will campaign for Ireland’s EBA bid with the relevant officials in Denmark on the 20 September and also in Romania on the 22 September after the EI programme.