Secretary General of the Department of Finance, John Moran, has identified cross border pension funds as one of the areas with potential for growth in financial services development. Mr Moran was speaking at the Irish Life Pensions Conference yesterday.
According to Mr Moran, although the market for pensions in Ireland is limited by the size of our population, the pensions industry should not be mapped to the domestic population alone. The Government is already aware of the potential for growth in this area and a Working Group for Pensions has been established within the IFSC Clearing House Group.
Mr Moran also questioned what Ireland can do in order to become a gateway country for Europe with regards to pension funds.
Development in this area could have huge financial benefits for Ireland considering the fact that European pension funds had €4trn in assets in 2011, a figure which is expected to double over the next decade. Ireland’s pension funds’ assets for the same period were €101bn.
The Secretary General urged that: “As we think about the future for this industry in an ever consolidating Eurozone, we should move to an analysis of the feasibility of moving the industry towards this pan European approach. ”
Mr Moran also took the opportunity to speak to delegates about the role of the Department in financial services development, the benefits of further investment by pension funds in Ireland, and general taxation issues.