Jersey-based funds specialist Ocorian eyes Irish growth with new licences

Jersey-headquartered fund services group Ocorian is targeting “aggressive growth” in Dublin’s €3.88 trillion international funds hub, after securing three key permits from the Central Bank of Ireland.

The company, which has had operations in the Republic for the past 15 years providing corporate and capital market services, is now planning what it calls a “full life cycle” service for funds having received licences covering Alternative Fund Management (AIFM) services, fund administration services and depository services.

It would make Ocorian one the few non-bank companies in a market dominated by pure fund administration providers that are able to provide the full range of services to asset managers. Its main fully licensed rivals in this space are FTSE 250-listed Sanne Group and Luxembourg-based Alter Domus.

Ocorian currently employs about 40 people in Ireland. The company’s global head of service lines, Mike Hughes, declined to give employment or business targets for the new business line when asked by The Irish Times.

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Assets held in Irish-domiciled funds almost doubled to more than €4 trillion in the five years to the end of 2021 as the Republic cemented its position as the world’s third-biggest funds hub, behind the US and Luxembourg, in a period of strong asset price growth that was fuelled by central banks flooding financial markets with cash during the Covid-19 crisis.

Equities and bond prices have fallen in recent months as central banks tighten monetary policy and investors fret about a global downturn. However, Ocorian sees the Republic continuing to benefit from US hedge fund and private markets fund managers choosing to domicile their structures in Dublin as they launch into Europe as well as demand from UK managers looking at alternative institutional domiciles.

Ocorian says Ireland’s new Investment Limited Partnerships (ILP) Act, passed into law in late 2020, has made the country even more competitive for private investment funds particularly those based in the UK, US, Europe and Asia.

Ocorian has $270 billion (€263.6 billion) in assets under administration globally and employs 1,500 professionals.