Brexit may bring windfall to Ireland’s financial services industry

The UK still has much to lose and the EU and Ireland much to gain

Since the referendum, 44 firms have announced plans to make local hires in the EU for 2,850 existing or newly created roles. Dublin, Luxembourg, Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam are among the main beneficiaries of jobs and assets moving out of London. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Sun, 27 Dec, 2020 - 11:13

An expert in Irish and international trade, John Whelan is a former Chief Executive of the Irish Exporters Association, a role he held for more than a decade and previously served as an export industry adviser to the AIB Bank Group.

A vast sigh of relief welcomed the last-ditch agreement between the EU and the UK. However, the deal only covers the exporting and importing of goods, services have been excluded from the get-go.

This a major concern for Ireland's financial services industry, which is a €76bn export-import business, with two-thirds of this conducted through London’s financial centre, one of the largest globally.