Is the financial service industry the next bubble in Ireland

AnthonyOD1987

Hi All,

Would be interested to hear peoples opinion on this. Bit of background, I have worked in the industry for 7 years now. Since joining the industry I have seen huge changes, on an operational level (what industries haven't you may say). But based on the below points could the financial services industry be the next possible bubble in Ireland where 38,000 people work in the IFSC alone.

Main reasons I have been thinking this way, in no particular order

- Central Bank sending a letter to the main fund administrators in Ireland in early March outlining the "level of outsourcing is likely to be at or close to the other limit of what is appropriate for the industry". I see this myself working for a Large US funds administrator, where the main functions of administration are outsourced to Krakow, India, Philippines and purely oversight been provided by the Dublin office. Function of the Dublin office been to press the approve button and be able to show the CBI final review is done in line with regulation.

- Pressure on fee's administrators can charge. With interest rates as low as they are and fund managers trying to achieve growth, there seems to be a push to cut fee's charged by administrators almost every year. This obviously has a knock on effect and is linked to the point above, where a lot of the core work is moved offshore. Surely its only a matter of time where administrators begin to justify the cost of having large offices in Dublin. This coupled with the high cost of staff employed, plus all the extra's e.g Health insurance, pensions etc.

- Advances in Technology - This is probably one of the major shifts I have seen. Most companies now have IT systems completing roles that 5 years ago a team of 5 people might have done. I see this where I currently work where the focus is on automating manual work. Of course this ensure little room for errors, but also serves to remove the knowledge from the people working.

-Will Brexit be as successful as expected for Ireland - A lot of the talk around the financial services will be around the influx of people from London after the Uk leave Brexit. Granted its clear some element of operations will need to move to other EU countries to avail of the passporting of financial services into the EU, but is the reality that this number could be a lot less than is spoken in the media. Realistically where are all these people going to live. The city is already in the middle of a housing crisis and even 1000 new rental requirements seem like a lot. Couple this with trains at peak capacity at rush hour, buses full when they are not on strike and the streets clogged with cars, would companies from the UK be that keen to move to Ireland.

These are just some the issues I have thought about, but with these alone - does anyone think the best of the Financial services industry could be behind us?

Interested to hear peoples views

euser1984

i didn't read this but the only bubbles we have to worry about these days are the global ones....because the next one is coming fast