Ireland, over the last quarter of a century has become a major hub for cross-border distribution. It is one of the leading EU "exporting" jurisdictions for investment funds, for both UCITS and non-UCITS. International fund promoters from over 50 countries use Ireland as their domicile of choice for fund products and seek to access not only the European market place but also markets outside the EU including the main Asia-Pacific markets.

Ireland is the number one hedge fund centre in the world and Irish funds are distributed in over 70 countries worldwide. Wherever your fund is domiciled, it can be serviced out of Ireland – 30 languages and 28 currencies are fully supported. In particular Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Korea have become popular jurisdictions into which asset managers choose to market and sell their funds with particular acceptance of UCITS (the European "gold standard" product) in those markets. The Irish Stock Exchange is the leading stock exchange globally for the listing of investment funds.

Ireland is an internationally recognised jurisdiction with membership of the EU, Eurozone, OECD, FATF and IOSCO. These memberships are valued and none of these memberships will be relinquished by Ireland.

Ireland does not operate a banking secrecy regime and with openness, transparency and regulation as the pillars of the industry, Ireland leads the global industry in compliance with internationally agreed tax standards, further evidenced by volunteering for a peer review by the G20 and OECD countries. Ireland cooperates with all EU states on the basis of the European directives and the Irish Central Bank has signed Memoranda of Understanding with 44 countries including China, Dubai, France, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Germany, Japan, Jersey, Malaysia, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the USA.

Ireland offers a wide variety of fund vehicles across the full range of fund products from plain vanilla and alternative UCITS, hedge funds and funds of hedge funds, to private equity and real estate, as well as a developed legal and tax infrastructure. The continued growth in the funds industry in Ireland is helped by a competitive environment in which wide selection of fund service providers offer a value for money service. A commitment on the part of the Irish regulatory authorities, notably the Central Bank of Ireland and Irish Stock Exchange, to adapt and develop regulations to keep pace with developments in the funds industry internationally assists this growth.

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