Ireland sets out its stall to tap financial jobs from Brexit

As a ‘no deal’ looms ever larger in Theresa May’s autocratic utterances, many EU administrations are making pre-emptive moves ahead of the official Brexit negotiations.

IDA chief Martin Shanahan is obviously convinced of this strategy. Not wishing to lose key ground to competitor countries, he participated in a series of events in London to promote Ireland’s attractiveness as a venue for any UK-based institutions of a mind to jump ship in the event of a ‘no deal’.

After weeks of speculation, Wall Street giant JPMorgan this week confirmed it was basing some of its London posts in Ireland, with plans to expand the workforce in the Dublin docklands by about 500 people after Brexit. And this paper reported that, in the coming weeks, Ireland hopes two more investment banks — Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch — will commit to basing jobs here. The Irish campaign is also likely to be a response to the European Commission’s plans to present legislative proposals, in June, affecting London’s future as a major financial centre.