Recent industry statistics have confirmed that Ireland's funds industry is at an all-time high and that it continues to outpace other jurisdictions as the fastest growing UCITS domicile in the world.

The recently published Lipper 17th Annual Fund Encyclopaedia reported a year-on-year increase of close to 30% in the assets serviced by the funds industry in Ireland and over 40% of the world's alternative investments are currently administered in Ireland. The number of promoters choosing to domicile their funds in Ireland has also increased by 11% since 2010.

Some of the other findings in the Lipper Encyclopaedia include:

  • The number of funds serviced in Ireland rose to 6,412 (from 6,116 last year) an increase of 5% of which 3,404 are domiciled in Ireland and 3,008 are domiciled in other jurisdictions.
  • The number of companies domiciling funds in Ireland has grown to 431 fund promoters (up from 388 in 2010). This represents a 70% rise since 2001.

The Central Bank of Ireland (the "Central Bank") released statistics as at the end of November 2011 confirming that the net asset value of Irish domiciled funds reached a record high in excess of €1 trillion. This represents an increase of more than 30% over the previous two years.

In addition, the European Fund and Asset Management Association ("Efama") released its annual statistical report entitled "Trends in the UCITS Market" in February 2012, which confirmed that Irish UCITS experienced the highest net inflows of any fund domicile during 2011. Ireland attracted net inflows amounting to €62 billion in 2011, some €50 billion more than the next most successful domicile and bucked a trend that saw most domiciles experiencing large outflows. Furthermore, the Efama statistics show that in the last 11 years the net assets of Irish UCITS have grown by more than 500% and that Ireland's share in the overall UCITS market increased by 26% since the beginning of 2011.

While Ireland is undoubtedly making impressive gains on the UCITS front, it is also enjoying increased activity on the alternative side, which it dominates with 63% of the European domiciled hedge fund market. The Central Bank's statistics show new record highs in relation to both the number of QIFs being established, which has now increased to 1,420, and in relation to the level of assets held therein, which now stands at €182 billion.

Key reasons behind this growth include the accumulated experience of the Irish funds industry, robust on-going regulation of the sector and the increased competitiveness of the Irish economy.

Mason Hayes & Curran's dedicated Investment Funds Department advises on the establishment and on-going operation of Irish funds and in relation to legal issues arising for the administration, custody, prime brokerage and management firms providing services to them. When advising clients our funds experts also draw upon the expertise of specialised lawyers from our tax, corporate, banking, litigation, intellectual property, data protection, regulatory and compliance practices whose members form part of our broader Funds Group and are experienced in applying their specialisations in this context.

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