Positive year for Irish funds

Ireland’s investment fund industry has witnessed growth of nearly 30% over the year, according to a Lipper report.

Lipper's analysis of funds domiciled and serviced in Dublin highlights the strong growth in the number of funds and the level of assets alongside the increase of 43 new promoters who have opted to domicile their funds in Ireland over the course of the year.

Lipper reports that funds serviced here reached US£1,882.2bn in total net assets as at 30 June 2011 - a figures that’s up 28.9% from US$1,460.3bn in 2010 and reaching its highest level since 2008.

The number of funds serviced in Ireland rose to 6,412 up from 6,116 in 2010, of which 3,404 funds are domiciled in Ireland and 3,008 are serviced in Ireland but domiciled in other jurisdictions. The number of companies domiciling funds in Ireland has grown to 431, which is an increase representing 70% since 2001.

Ed Moisson, Head of Lipper’s UKI & Cross Border Research, said, “While money market funds remain the largest asset class domiciled in Ireland, this year’s industry growth has also been strongly supported by equity and bond products. Additionally, non-domiciled funds serviced in Ireland have grown for the first time in three years, underlining the recovery that the industry has enjoyed.”

www.irishfunds.ie