Minister of State Simon Harris is clear about one thing: a British exit from the European Union would be bad new for Ireland's international financial services (IFS) sector.
A referendum on a so-called Brexit could be held by David Cameron’s government in 2016.
Some commentators argue that there could be a flight of businesses and money from the City of London following a Brexit and that Ireland, as its nearest neighbour and being an English-speaking country, would be an obvious landing spot for them. Harris disagrees.
“I’m absolutely convinced that a Brexit is not in the interest of Ireland’s IFS offering,” Harris told The Irish Times in a recent interview in his office in Government Buildings.
“One, the synergies between the two islands. We’re competitive but we’re also collaborative.
“But I also make the point that, at a ministerial table at European level, it’s a friendlier table to Ireland’s IFS propositions with a UK minister sitting around it than without a UK minister; because we tend to have a similar outlook when it comes to knowledge development boxes, capital markets union and taxation issues.
“The big and the small country working together at the European table works well.”
Harris keeps a “close eye” on the Brexit issue although it is the Department of the Taoiseach that has a team monitoring the implications for Ireland.
International banking is one of many responsibilities Harris has had since his appointment as a Minister of State at the Department of Finance in 2014.
One of his tasks has been to refresh the debate about the IFSC, which was set up in 1987 and employs about 35,000 staff at 400 foreign and indigenous companies in Dublin’s docklands and elsewhere.
In March 2015, Harris launched IFS2020, a Government-led strategy designed to create a net 10,000 new jobs within five years.
“We’ll make a fair dent in it this year,” he says, without revealing the precise number of new jobs envisaged.
But IFSC sources put the figure at about 2,500 net new jobs supported by either the IDA or Enterprise Ireland.
If that pace of job creation can be maintained until 2020, the number of new jobs would hit 12,500.
In January, two other headline items in the new strategy will be delivered.
IFS brand
The inaugural European Financial Forum will be held at Dublin Castle on January 27th, with the possibility that a new “banner brand” for the industry will be road tested there.
On the development of a single brand for IFS in Ireland, Harris said: “We’re going to have a common logo, common branding and common website for the IFSC for the first time.
“It’s quite exciting. It’s the first time the State has been involved in an actual brand [for the industry].”
FS Ireland and IFS Ireland are two names that have been kicked about but the brand itself won’t be unveiled until next month.
“The idea is that everybody will use it and promote it. It’s a brand that anyone in the IFSC can use.”
Harris is hoping the forum will replicate the success of the annual Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong, which he has attended.
“This is something that was glaringly, obviously missing,” he says.
Who does he want to attend the forum?
“We want people who are friends of Ireland but ideally we want new friends. So people who might be considering investing in Ireland.
“That’s who I’d like to get here. [It’s targeted at] anybody working at a senior level in financial services.”
The one-day forum, entitled ‘Building the Future of European Financial Services’, is organised by the IDA in association with the Financial Times.
It will be opened by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny, with Harris expecting 300 to 400 delegates.
Andrew Bailey, deputy governor of the Bank of England, Brunon Bartkiewicz, the chief innovation officer of ING Bank, and Colm Kelleher, the president of Morgan Stanley Institutional Securities and chief executive of Morgan Stanley International are among the confirmed speakers.
Harris wants the forum to become an annual event, and operate as a showcase for Ireland with US and Asian investors considering locating in the euro zone.
‘Suck it and see’
“We’ll suck it and see.”
What else does he hope to achieve in 2016?
“Next year there are exciting opportunities because a lot of our actions for 2015 were general. They need to be more specific this year.
“We are going to ask our embassy network to promote Ireland’s IFS, we’re going to ask certain key embassies to hold two events.”
He cites the recent establishment of the Fintech & Payments Association of Ireland as a welcome development.
“I’ve asked them to work on a fintech paper. They’ll come back with steps that they think the Government needs to take to make Ireland a global location for Fintech. That’s quite good.”
Fintech is a broad term, but Harris describes it as the use of technology to deliver financial services.
“My generation are going to want to use whatever technology is available to deliver financial services as easily as possible,” says the youngest member of the current Dáil.
RegTech, the use of technology in financial regulation and compliance, is another potential growth area.
“I think Ireland can do it well,” he says, citing the governance, risk and compliance technology centre that has been hosted by UCC since March 2013 with funding from Enterprise Ireland and the IDA.
He also wants to promote IFS as a career opportunity, possibly including the development of apprenticeships.
“I feel very strongly about this. We have to begin to tell the story about what IFS does.
“Apart from drawing a wage, why do people get up in the morning and go to work? What value added does it bring to a society?
“I want to look at various ways to promote IFS as a career option, for example slingshot academy, careers fairs. It’s very important if we are to continue the flow of people into IFS.”
Harris would also like to bring home Irish emigrants with IFS experience and skills.
“There are two issues – personal tax and lack of housing,” he says .
”As long as our tax rates are out of kilter with other jurisdictions, including the UK, and as long as we don’t have an adequate supply of housing young professionals won’t return home. That will be overcome . . . but it will take time.”
Election date
With a general election on the horizon, has Harris been told the actual date for polling? “The Taoiseach said early spring so I presume the month of February,” he says.
Harris had thought an election would be called for November but the Taoiseach decided to wait, allowing the Oireachtas Banking Inquiry time to publish its report.
At best, a watered-down report will be released in January, and not with the backing of all the members. Was it worth delaying the election for this?
“It’s right that they try to publish the report,” he says. “But I actually think they’ve already completed the biggest body of work, which was the testimony.
“We needed it [the inquiry] because we needed the people in power at the time to testify as to why they did or didn’t do some things.
“People had a right to see that happen.”
