Funds being serviced in the Republic are now worth in excess of $1 trillion (€886 billion). Latest figures from fund intelligence service Lipper Fitzrovia and from the Dublin Funds Industry Association (DFIA) show that, by the end of August, the funds broke the $1 trillion barrier.
Figures from the DFIA also show that Irish-administered funds are now equal to 65 per cent of the value of those administered in Luxembourg, Dublin's main competitor. Five years ago Irish-administered funds amounted to 25 per cent of those administered in Luxembourg.
Lipper Fitzrovia reported that funds in Ireland topped $950 billion at the end of June 2005. However, that figure did not include funds managed by two top investment companies, IFS and Citco, which do not report to Lipper. These companies' figures are included in the DFIA numbers, which show non-Irish domiciled funds standing at $120 billion above the Lipper figure.
The fund management sector now employs more than 8,500 people directly and an additional 2,000 advisers through the major accountancy and law firms.
The latest Lipper Fitzrovia figures showed US multinational State Street topping the administrators' and custodians' charts in Ireland, while PricewaterhouseCoopers provided auditing services and Dillon Eustace provided legal advice to the greatest number of funds.
Gavin Nangle, head of business development with State Street, said the regulatory environment and skilled staff were the factors behind Ireland's success. State Street employs more than 600 people in Dublin and Kilkenny. "We are catching up with Luxembourg and growing at a much faster rate," he said.
