An important fixture on the calendar for the funds sector, toady’s Irish Funds Annual Global Funds Conference 2025 comes at a time where the industry is expanding its reach and moving to stay nimble.
The sector has long been in strong health in Ireland but Pat Lardner, chief executive of the Irish Funds Industry Association, says agility is vital to ensuring it continues to advance.
“The key to our ongoing success is enhancing our fund offering in an agile way,” says Lardner, “to reflect changing capital allocation patterns and the widening universe of opportunities which institutional and retail investors are looking to access.”
Investments domiciled in Ireland are distributed to more than 90 countries and Lardner says private assets play a key role in the success of these funds.
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“Private assets are a fundamental component of investor portfolios and the investment fund toolkit asset managers use. Ireland already provides a significant range of services to private asset funds domiciled in other jurisdictions, so the core capabilities already exist,” he says.
“A key strategic objective for us is to ensure we enable both institutional and retail investors to access private assets via Irish regulated funds, something that has only happened to date in a limited way.”
The conference will address the opportunity presented by the EU’s Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, which Lardner says offers a valuable chance to enhance the Republic‘s private asset funds offering.
“Developing this area is fully aligned with the Funds Sector Review 2030 recommendations and the programme for government,” he says. “At a time when public finances are stretched and the demands on infrastructure are growing, private assets investing is part of the solution: connecting patient capital with public and economic needs.”
Another area that will be discussed at the event is the role of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and how the Irish funds sector can continue to grow its influence.
“Although Ireland is the established ETF leader within Europe, there is a need to continuously innovate and evolve,” says Nicholas Blake-Knox, partner at Walkers Global. “This is true also in the area of ETFs where asset managers are continuously seeking to enhance their product offerings.”
Lardner says Ireland has some built-in advantages that should enable it to improve its ETF offerings.
“Ireland has a highly skilled, English-speaking workforce of 20,000 professionals in the funds and asset management industry. When it comes to ETF servicing, Ireland is unrivalled in Europe for its ETF experience and expertise,” he says.
“The maturity of the Irish model ensures that ETF issuers have access to service providers which can provide market leading, highly automated and scalable global solutions and who are ably supported by Ireland’s strong financial technology industry.”
In addition to ETFs, tokenisation - which offers substantial opportunities to the sector - promises to be a much-discussed topic at the conference.
“Tokenisation is a rapidly evolving area and can bring significant benefits to asset managers, service providers and investors,” says Ailbhe MacManus, wealth and asset management partner at EY Ireland.
“Some of the key issues at present include regulation, cross-border licensing, and the need for operational resilience, especially around cybersecurity and data privacy. Clear, consistent policy that embraces innovation while ensuring investor protection will be central to supporting growth in tokenised assets.”
The bedrock that sustains this scope for growth is the level of co-operation both within the sector and at a government level.
“Ireland is an excellent place for international asset managers to establish investment funds,” says Michael MacGrath, head of global investment selection at Davy Private Clients.
“We welcome the work of the Department of Finance in the Funds Sector 2023 review, which at this stage indicates better alignment of the tax treatment of these products with the needs of Irish investors.”
That alignment means the sector is in position to grow on multiple fronts and Lardner expects the event to attract much discussion about how best to embrace these opportunities.
“Our 2025 conference comes at a time when industries and governments around the world are laser-focused on capability, innovation and competitiveness,” he says.
“As the largest and globally recognised element of Ireland’s international financial services offering, the 2025 Irish Funds Conference provides a platform for industry, government and policy makers to come together and plot out the future for the industry.”
The Irish Funds Annual Global Funds Conference 2025 takes place at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre on May 21st
