Thought provoking article in the Irish time where Prof Cal Muckley (professor of risk in banking and finance at UCD's Smurfit school) enumerated the "pull" factors which make Ireland an attractive location for Fintech.
In essence he predicts that the UK will continue its flagship position in global Fintech in the medium term but that the regulatory uncertainty introduced by Brexit will throw grit into the UK Fintech Juggernaut.
Brexit will impact their Fintech offering by : a) possibly requiring UK regulated entities to relocate to another EU regulator to enable them to continue offering their regulated services on a pan European basis; b) limiting the talent pool available to UK Fintech companies; and c) raising EU Data Protection problems (in essence if you are a data rich Fintech company you will probably need to be inside the EU tent if you want to process the data of EU citizens).
Prof Muckley goes on to point out that Brexit does however also pose challenges for Irish Fintech- with its possible negative economic impact on Ireland's economy and slowdown as a hot bed of Fintech activity not to be taken lightly.
KPMG's Anna Scally comments that Brexit has caused Irish companies to expand their horizons when looking to establish their international footprint- No bad thing.
In essence the impact of Brexit on Ireland continues to be hard to predict. As Anna states "Uncertainty surrounds everything from the future entitlement of Irish firms to serve that market, future entitlement of UK firms to passport outside of the UK to serve the European market and the broader legal and regulatory framework in which FinTech companies will operate".
The good news however is that that a number of Marque Fintech players are beginning to vote with their feet and establishing beachheads into Ireland.
Its in all our interests that the Fintech vanguard slogging their way across the Irish sea and onto our shores are welcomed with open arms.
To paraphrase one of Peckhams most famous businessmen- If we do manage to maximize the opportunity for Irish Fintech offered by Brexit the "World is our Lobster and this time next year we'll all be millionaires".
You know it makes sense.
“The beginning of 2017 saw a number of mature FinTech companies announce expansion plans here, including the client lifecycle management company, Fenego,” says Scally. “Ireland has also successfully attracted a number of FinTechs to set up regional offices here, and we hope to see further growth as Ireland continues to market its ability to be a bridge to both the UK and Europe.” There are signs that Dublin is increasingly being chosen as the European headquarters for multinational companies, she says. “Other companies, especially in Ireland’s strong FinTech market, increased operations and added headcount throughout the first quarter. Brexit is certainly a factor in this trend and Ireland is well positioned to serve as a springboard to the vast European market. Ireland’s straightforward tax regime and strong tech talent base are also attractive.”
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