US asset manager looks to set up Dublin operation

Principal Global Investors, the US-headquartered asset manager, is set to establish a Dublin operation ahead of the UK’s departure from the European Union.

According to Financial News, the $674bn multi-boutique fund manger is in the process of applying to the Irish regulator for a licence under the updated Markets in Financial Instruments Directive to secure access to continental Europe once the UK leaves the bloc in 2019.

Although the US fund manager does not have any staff on the ground in Ireland at present, it has established a Ucits fund platform, which it uses to distribute funds internationally. Its European operations are currently run out of London.

Tim Stumpff, chief executive of Principal Global Investors Europe, told the newspaper that any new positions created in the city would be filled by making local hires, rather than relocating existing staff.

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The announcement is the latest in a line of decisions from UK based financial services companies about where they will establish their European operations post Brexit. While Dublin stands to gain on many fronts - Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan and Barclays Bank are just some of the banks announcing expansions here - the flow of business out of London is not yet as great as had been initially expected.