Showcasing Financial Services

Photographed above: Members of the Irish Funds Council, Cork Financial Services Forum and industry representatives from the 100 Mile Hinterland.

Cork hosts Irish Funds Council Meeting

Regionalisation is a key pillar of the Ireland for Finance strategy and core to the success of the International Financial Services sector in Ireland. Cork Chamber was delighted to collaborate with Irish Funds, through the Cork Financial Services Forum, to hold their council meeting in Cork for the first time in four years at the KPMG offices, South Mall.

This Irish Funds visit presented a great opportunity for the financial services sector in Cork, and in the 100 Mile Hinterland, to showcase the benefits and opportunities for financial services organisations to invest and grow in the regions.

Maria Ging, in her last event as Chair of Irish Funds, emphasised the associations fiduciary responsibilities to their customers and communities. In front of an audience which included members of the Cork Financial Services forum and from further afield, she highlighted that there are now 14,000 people employed both directly and indirectly by the sector in the regions where growth is now twice that of Dublin.

Above : Maria Ging, Chair Irish Funds Council

In the afternoon the delegation split into two and took in site visits to Clearstream, Alter Domus, MTU and UCC. The visit illustrated how the educational institutions, private companies, government agencies and members of the business community are working together to create an ecosystem for the international financial services industry to flourish in Cork. With thanks to the above organisations, IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, the Chair and Vice Chair of the Cork Financial Services Forum, Eoin Motherway and Karen Conboy and, of course, Maria Ging and CEO Pat Lardner for making this visit possible.

Above: Eoin Motherway, Chair Cork Financial Services Forum.