Here’s an unexpected press release from the Irish Funds Industry Association:
Irish Funds Industry Continues Expansion
TOTAL assets under administration in Ireland have reached a record high and are fast approaching the €2 trillion mark. At the same time it has been revealed that the Irish funds industry is now credited with servicing an estimated 43 per cent of the world’s hedge fund assets…
Recently published figures from the Central Bank reported that the value of Irish domiciled investment funds had reached an all high time of €964 billion as at the end of December – up nearly a third (29 per cent) on the same time last year from 748 billion. Some €914 billion worth of assets held in non Irish domiciled funds is serviced in Ireland…
Confused? Don’t be.
The huge amount of funds already in the country is due to Ireland’s status as a tax haven (no fund tax, no income or capital gains tax on non-Irish resident investors — that 12.5 per cent corporate tax rate, moreover) and the recent increase is a sign of the recovery in hedge fund fortunes as investor flows revived in late 2010.
Of course, it might seem weird in that the funds have arrived despite huge depositor flight from Irish banks, and the investors who dropped the country’s bonds amid the ongoing sinking of the sovereign under the banks’ weight. Oh, and biting austerity.
That’s life in our happily transnationalised financial system, we guess.
One last point — remember Grifonas Finance No. 1? It’s an RMBS deal backed by mortgages of Greek civil servants (don’t ask). Where do we find it listed?
(H/T The FT’s Anousha Sakoui)
Related links:
Investors back onshore hedge funds – FT
Shadow banks, shadow sovereigns – FT Alphaville