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| The International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), Dublin. |
Irish Economy 2014: Financial Services Ireland
(FSI), a unit of Ibec, the principal Irish business lobby, says in a
presentation issued today that total jobs in IFSC firms amounted to 35,700 at
the end of 2012. However official data puts the number at 23,300.
IFSC -- the Dublin International Financial
Services Centre -- no longer just refers to the Dublin Docklands' original
location but to financial services firms that are
principally involved in services exporting. FSI says over 10,000
people are employed outside Dublin.
FS! claims that 6,000 jobs were added since the
end of 2009.
Forfás, a
research unit of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, puts
the total number of financial services jobs at 23,300 in 2012, 21,200 at end
2009 and 12,285 at end 2003.
Forfás surveys firms that are supported by four state
enterprise agencies: most jobs would relate to IDA
Ireland and Enterprise Ireland.
The
FSI presentation [pdf] provides no information on how the data was put
together. Neither is there information on the number of firms polled or the
overall firm population.
Brendan Bruen, FSI
director, said: “Even within firms with stable
headcounts, roles are changing as firms seek to move into higher value
activities. Based on our research, each net new job has meant two created and
one lost. Employment growth has been driven by technology focused roles, and has
reflected Ireland’s ability to combine financial services and ICT strengths.
“While overall employment has increased by 6,000 since 2010, the research shows
significant job losses during the period as well. Banking has been the hardest
hit, with several major institutions winding down their IFSC operations. This
has been offset by growth in fund administration and insurance, and niche
sectors like aircraft leasing are huge success stories and continue to grow.”
“The numbers also highlight the importance of the industry to the economy and
the exchequer. Payroll is €2.3bn per annum, with payroll taxes of €920m paid.
Corporate tax, while down from the peak, is still around €1bn, giving a total
annual tax contribution of over €2bn.”
The presentation also shows that 86% of staff have at least a bachelor’s degree,
and 35% hold a graduate qualification. Average salaries remain at approximately
€67,000.
Patrick Manley, FSI chairman and Zurich Europe, Middle
East and Africa CEO, said “Ireland’s international financial services
sector has come through the crisis reasonably well, and the overall job growth
figures show that. But there has been a step change in the kind of roles within
the sector, today's IFSC is unrecognisable from what it was five years ago.”
The situation is a little cloudier than presented by FSI and last month the
biannual Global Financial Centres Index, which polls financial services
professionals across the world, put Dublin at 66 of 83 cities - -
down from 13 in September 2008.
Finfacts:
Global Financial Centres Index: New York overtakes London; Dublin
slips to 66 of 83 cities
Brendan
Bruen, FSI director, provided the
following comment on our report:
"Most published data doesn't count professional
services firms that handle IFSC activities. This doesn't make a lot of sense - a
big four partner whose sole job is setting up and managing fund structures for
clients is just as relevant as an employee of a fund administrator who does the
net asset value calculations. Similarly, an employee of an outsourcing firm like
Capita who is assigned solely to an international life insurer for a long period
of time is clearly within scope - and such arrangements are a regular feature of
how the IFSC is structured.
For the purposes of this survey, international
financial services activities are defined as:
- Financial services provided to clients and
counterparties who are not Irish, either directly or on foot of an
outsourcing arrangement;
- Services of a professional or technical
nature provided to firms based in Ireland engaged in international financial
services activities where such services are directly related to those
activities.
A non-exhaustive list of example activities which
are considered to be in scope is included below:
- Investment/corporate banking for primarily
international clients including services for international corporates
domiciled in Ireland;
- Asset (including aircraft) leasing and
financing;
- Investment management, except where provided
directly to primarily Irish clients (e.g. to an Irish pension fund);
- Fund administration and related company
services;
- Provision of life and/or general insurance
to retail and non-retail consumers in other jurisdictions;
- Reinsurance and captive insurance (including
administration);
- International payment / transactional
services;
- Treasury management for international
non-financial groups;
- Technical and shared services for financial
groups;
- Securitisation and structured finance;
- Accounting, auditing, legal and actuarial
services for international financial services activities;
- Third-party administration services for
international financial services activities;
- Provision of specialised financial
services IT support / software development for international activities."
