Brexit boosted the Irish balance sheets of international banks

Fissure openings

Source: IFS

Many politicians and business heads warned of the consequences, now confirmed from an ulikely source with a report saying that Brexit boosted the Irish balance sheets of international banks by more than €200bn. The report was released by the FIBI and the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland.
The report suggests that many UK financial institutions have moved their EU branches to Ireland to enable them to service their EU customers more effectively. The report also suggests that some of these have begun using Ireland as the base for their global business.
Ireland only lags behind Germany when it comes to the value of assets that were moved from UK to EU finacial instutions after Brexit, making the country the eight largest international banking operation in the EU. The growth in assets to more than €517bn has also moved the country’s financial sector up two places internationally to 17th in the world.
Fiona Gallagher, Chair of the Federation of International Banks in Ireland (FIBI) and CEO of Wells Fargo Bank International said: “While Ireland’s international financial services sector has steadily grown over the decades, the UK’s exit from the EU has accelerated this trend, with Ireland now one of the key EU hubs for international banking and capital markets activity.
“Many UK and global banking groups built-up or established new Irish entities to service EU clients post-Brexit. This has seen an influx of new staff, assets, risk management capabilities and investment services activities in Ireland.”

Brexit boosted the Irish economy

Ireland is now the eighth largest exporter of financial services in the world and is the fifth largest exporter of financial services in Europe, the data also shows. 50,000 people are employed in sector with 29,000 of those working for foreign owned firms.
They collectively spend €1.7bn in the local economy each year with €0.8bn coming from wages and salaries.
Corporation tax receipts from the international banking businesses here accounted for 18% of total corporation tax take in 2020.
Those that warned Brexit would be bad for the UK will point to the report that shows the UK EU divorce Brexit, boosted international banks Irish balance sheets as proof that it has been bad for the economy. On the other side those countries that thought they could usurp London’s crown may be surprised to find that Ireland was a surprising winner in the battle to capture the business.


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Written by

Peter McLaren-Kennedy

Originally from South Africa, Peter is based on the Costa Blanca and is a web reporter for the Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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