By Business & Finance 
Pictured: Pat Lardner, CEO, Irish Funds
In 2020 alone, 56 new firms approved by the Central Bank of Ireland to operate in the country. Total value of Irish established investment funds reaches €3 trillion at end May after drop in March.
The Irish Funds Industry Association (Irish Funds), the representative body for the international investment fund community in Ireland, publishes its latest investment fund industry figures, highlighting the industry resilience during the global pandemic and the continued attractiveness of Ireland as an international financial center for investment managers.
After a challenging month in March and the impact of the unprecedented market sell-off on the industry, total net asset value held by funds registered in Ireland bounced back to €3 trillion in May, an increase of 1.4% from April. The Irish funds industry also promptly returned to positive territory with net positive sales year-to-date of €46.4 billion across mutual funds and alternative funds via regulated funds based in Ireland, according to latest sales data available, May 2020.
Since January 2020, 56 investment firms entered or expanded their presence in the Irish market. A list largely dominated by alternative fund managers, reflecting a growing interest by investors in alternative investment products and a growing focus for managers to respond to this need. Overall, the 564 investment managers with Irish investment funds, established 323 new investment funds during that same period.
Reflecting on the rebound, Pat Lardner, Irish Funds CEO, said: “As much of the economic uncertainty remains because of Covid-19, the Irish funds industry has shown great resilience and robustness. Investment managers ability to quickly adapt to a new environment with limited operational disruption has helped a quick rebound while Brexit has continued bringing to Ireland companies with need to be able to sell products and services within the EU after the UK’s exit.”
Key figures for the Irish fund industry during the January-May 2020 period include:
– The total domiciled NAV €3.0 trillion (May: UCITS NAV up 1.6% and AIFs up 1%), overall down 3% year to date
– Net sales for May also continued to be strongly positive +€42.1 billion for the month
– Net sales of UCITS of €32.8 billion, (of which UCITS money market funds were €16.8 billion, compared to bond funds of €14.1 billion). AIFs net assets recorded positive net sales of €9.3 billion in May.
– Net sales across March, April and May were +€14.5 billion
