Highlights:
Finance Dublin's annual Deals of the Year Awards 2021 issue, profiling the 40 winning awards, across 6 broad categories.
The Report shows that the world of finance is changing, and perhaps at an accelerated pace during the pandemic, as the industry met the challenge of a health and human crisis, the first global catastrophe since the great financial crisis of 2007-2008.
It's been a time when, as the deals stories also show, the industry and the world, continues to adjust to the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008 itself.
The awards reflect the changing times, such as the rise of green finance, the role of Irish companies in leading edge life sciences work, which the pandemic has reminded us of, the challenges of finance in the Irish economy, notably in housing, and the changing role of finance, as private equity and alternative finance combine in new ways to blend with traditional financing models in banking.
The deals stories reflect the rich diversity of financing industry in Ireland, a new industry that barely existed 35 years ago, with, an international dimension that certainly could not even have been imagined 35 years ago.
Also:
- The Irish Tax Monitor - The panel provides their initial assessments of President' Biden's 'Made in America' Tax Plan which proposes to reform the Base Erosion and Anti-Abuse Tax ("BEAT"), Global Intangible low-tax income ("GILTI") and foreign-derived intangible income ("FDII") regimes. they assess the potential implications for Ireland.
- And much more from Ireland's publication on international financial services
Highlights:
- Stripe's 1,000 job expansion in Ireland truly signals a new wave for Irish fintech; Not least because the valuation of the Irish-American company at $95bn makes it the world's second largest 'unicorn', its strategic positioning at the interface between payments and new money concepts is significant.
- The
Finance Dublin Funds Monitor, Issue No 2 - The perspectives of seven leading figures in the Irish funds industry on the outlook at the outset of Q2 2021.
- Aircraft Leasing - the Irish industry set for the next stage in global commercial aviation.
- Op-Ed - Individual accountability in financial services.
- IQ-EQ's Irish funds push & Alter Domus' Cork expansion driven by Ireland's increasing importance as a listing domicile for private equity; Albany Beck's banking consultancy plans.
- Lord Jonathan Hill's plans for the UK's revamping of its listing rules.
- How COVID-19 is impacting the UK and European real estate investment sector
- The Irish Tax Monitor - The panel examines Irish aircraft leasing, other IFS sectors, and Corporation Tax. The implications for global corporation tax; how might the various corporation tax reform proposals potentially affect aircraft leasing in particular? The UK Budget: implications of the increase in the UK corporation tax rate to 23%.
- The Dillon Eustace Financial Regulation Update, No. 17.
- Digital Operational Resilience proposals in America, Europe and beyond.
- And much more from Ireland's financial services publication
The second edition of
Finance Dublin's quarterly
Finance Dublin Funds Monitor is published - featuring the insights of our Roundtable of thought leaders in the Asset Management and Investment Funds industry.
It may be risking exaggeration to speak of President Biden's proposed corporation tax strategy as a tectonic shift in a process - global tax reform - that normally moves at a glacial pace. However, there has been a shift in the global attitude to corporation taxation at G20 and OECD levels, and it is to raise the yield, and the process to counter tax compeition from perceived tax 'havens', such as Ireland. Whatever transpires in the coming years, the view emanating from the most influential thought leaders around Irish tax policy is that there should be little to fear for a jurisdiction, like Ireland, that has benefited from a clear long term national tax strategy of its own - based on a commitment not to unfairly engage in the erosion of other countries' rightful tax bases, and a desire to 'play fair, and play to win'.
The nominated deals for the
Finance Dublin Deals of the Year Awards 2021 were published in the February issue of
Finance Dublin, providing an unique insight into how Ireland's corporate financing and capital markets have fared in 2020. The list of winning deals for 2021 will be published, and profiled, in the May issue of
Finance Dublin. Last year 36 of the 200 plus nominated deals received Deals of the Year awards across five categories, with 40 more shortlisted. This year
Finance Dublin will mark the exceptional achievements of a year that saw dealmaking proceed, despite the exceptional uncertainties caused by Covid.
The Five Broad Areas from which the Award Categories for 2021 will be chosen are as follows:
1. Mergers & Acquisitions; 2. Debt Capital Markets; 3. Equity Capital Markets; 4. Loans & Financing (Ireland); 5. Financial Services (Ireland and International) & Financial Services - Aviation Finance.
Latest issue:
- Irish aircraft leasing executive's plight.
The continued detention of Richard O'Halloran, an Irish leasing company executive by a Chinese Court has been raised by Irish politicians. The detained executive's lawyer, David Maughan, speaks to Finance Dublin.
- Details of all the Deals of the year Nominations - 195 Deals are nominated for the 2021 Finance Dublin Deals of the Year Awards. This was an increase on the previous year, with Covid-19 effects shaken off by the final quarter of the year as Ireland's dealmakers adjusted to the realities of corporate finance under pandemic conditions.
- Finance for Ireland Action Plan 2021
Government strategy incorporates new objectives, including actions on tax treaty issues, Covid-19 recovery and Brexit.
- Corporation Tax
The Corporation Tax 'Roadmap Update'; published last month is welcomed as a coherent strategic plan for the future defence of a vital pillar of the Irish economy.
- Ireland's Tax Treaties
Although, at 74 treaties with other countries, Ireland has an extensive tax treaty network it could sign up more. The new Finance for Ireland Government Action Plan has set its expansion as a new objective in 2021.
- The Finance Dublin Glossary - Irish Schemes of Arrangement ; 'Cashbox' structures in corporate finance; Ireland's 12.5% corporation tax rate - the 'lodestar' rate for international tax competitiveness
January issue: Interview - the Minister of State responsible for Financial Services, Sean Fleming TD
- Interview: the Minister of State responsible for Financial Services, Sean Fleming TD on his priorities, and how he sees the evolution of the Government's Ireland for Finance strategy. Update; 11th February 2021: The Minister publishes the Ireland for Finance Action Plan 2021
- Update: The opportunities for Ireland as a common law centre after Brexit. Chief Justice Mr Frank Clarke speaks in New York State Bar Association webinar about the benefits of Irish common law for commercial law resolutions at an Ireland for Law event introduced by its chair, former Taoiseach John Bruton.
- The passing of the Investment Limited Partnership Act, effective February 1st 2021: - the possibilities to facilitate business development in capital markets and asset management;
- The Green and ESG agendas in Insurance: overview by James Maher of EY; - A big year beckons on the corporation tax front, with the BEPS process set to unfold further; - Insurance Action Plan of the Government published in December;
- The Finance Dublin Glossary - Andrew Bailey's take on 'Equivalence'; 'Nexus' and BEPS; Central Banks and Supervisors for 'Greening the Financial System'.
December issue: Investment Funds Special Report 2021
Highlights:
- Investment Funds Special Report 2021: attention shifts in the funds industry to that will be an intriguing year; recovery in markets and indeed long dormant asset classes is spurring interest in yield, prompting asset managers to ask how access to difficult and formerly inaccessible asset classes can be unlocked;
- The first edition of the new quarterly Finance Dublin Funds Monitor - which features the insights of our Roundtable of leading thought leaders in the Asset Management and Investment Funds industry;
- Cyber attacks warning for IFS sector - the Central Bank has voiced its concerns;
- Passage of the Investment Limited Partnerships Bill through the Dail was prioritised in the Government's IFS Action Plan;
- The Finance Dublin Irish Tax Monitor - Bumper issue! Ghosts of times past... the complex range of actionable tax planning decisions facing multinational corporations operating from an Irish base are starkly evident in the Questions addressed by the December Tax Roundtable.
- In the Dillon Eustace Regulatory Investigations Quarterly Update ; Muireann Reedy take a forensic look at cyber security issues affecting the funds industry and indeed all financial services firms. There are reputational issues at stake, she says.
- Glossary: Finance Dublin's take on key words and the concepts behind them appearing in this edition, including bitcoin's value, systemic fragility, Ireland's cyber security system, Birthday honours, and America's 'GILTI' strategy.
As 2020 dawned, little did anyone contemplating the year ahead imagine that a classic 'black swan' in the form of Covid-19 lay in wait, and its consequences for markets would be evident by the end of the first quarter. The second quarter saw the greatest volatility in markets, and uncertainty, but as
these articles and insights published by the Sponsoring firms of the Yearbook 2020 show, the challenges, as the year draws to a close have been willingly met, providing much to hope for in 2021. The 2020 edition of the Yearbook is available to subscribers at
this link.
December 17th 2020: The Dail last night passed the Investment Limited Partnerships Bill having been recently prioritised by the Government to be brought before the Dail by the end of this month. It puts in place a key element in Ireland's funds platform offering, i.e. the transparency of a limited partnerships structure to enable the establishment of modern private equity funds structures, an important remaining element in the suite of funds offerings of Ireland as an international funds jurisdiction. A comprehensive
analysis of the new legislation and its potential implications for the Irish investment funds industry is contained in
Investment Funds 2021, a Special Report in
Finance Dublin, published this week.
November issue: Ireland’s financial services landscape will change definitively in the coming year - key aspects
- The post Brexit reality and opportunity for Irish financial services.
The opportunities for Ireland as a common law centre in the syndicated lending space by Muiris O'Dwyer.
- Interview: the new head of Aircraft Leasing Ireland, Declan Kelly, on the sector's most challenging year ever
- Asset Management - Funds lawyer Tara Doyle wins election to Law Society Council
- Green finance at $50 trillion by 2025. Citi's Louise O'Mara surveys the global and Irish markets for ESG and green finance.
- Insurance & Equivalence: Solvency II - one of the first chasms of divergence between the UK and EU in financial services after Brexit?
- Glossary:
Finance Dublin's take on key words and the concepts behind them appearing in this edition.
- The High Court Perrigo judgement: might consequences follow for corporate tax burdens in the FS and pharma sectors?
October issue: The Finance Bill 2021; Foreign Exchange Volatility - what Irish FX dealers are saying; Brexit - to the countdown, and beyond
Some other highlights from the issue:
- Leading corporate treasury advisers in Irish banks assess the markets scenario as Brexit sparks unprecedented volatility between the GBP and EUR exchange rates.
-
Interview: Ireland's first SuperManco - Eve Finn, the CEO of Legal & General's EU27 asset management platform, LGIM.
- The
Irish Tax Monitor provides an assessment of major medium term tax policy issues framing Budget 2021. The Panel focuses on topics affecting corporate taxpayers, including topics in the Finance Bill.
- Glossary:
Finance Dublin's take on key words and the concepts behind them appearing in this edition.
- As the first measures of the Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019 came into force on 1st September, John Lyons analyses the extensive consequences of the first batch of reforms.
- Fintech: Revolut demonstrates new approach to banking models.
- FSI survey shows 'always on' FS sector has adjusted almost seamlessly to Covid-19. Ibec body calls for a 'Stakeholder Engagement Group'.
- Transition extended for significant part of London's FS industry as ESMA gives green light for London's major clearing houses.
- Nine of Ireland's top IFS women executives support aim of eradicating homelessness in the time of Covid-19.
- Book Review - Marc Coleman reviews 'Post Pandemic' by former Central Bank of Ireland regulator Jonathan McMahon.
-
September issue: Autumn Assessment: The impact of Covid on the Irish economy
The first available evidence shows that Ireland has fared better than the vast majority of other countries. Sectoral data, and GDP data, including leading indicators for the Exchequer returns and monetary data, show that the Irish economy is faring relatively well.
Click here to read the full article
Also:
- Features: Mairead McGuinness, Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability & Markets - 'A powerful portfolio, for Europe, Britain and Ireland'.
- Ireland's aircraft leasing sector rearranges its financial profile
- Investment Funds: ESG and sustainable finance for asset management
- Glossary:
Finance Dublin's take on key words and the concepts behind them appearing in this edition.
- Dillon Eustace's
Muireann Reedy on diversity and inclusion assessments which the Central Bank has undertaken.
- The
Irish Tax Monitor - the economic turmoil and key taxation consequences, including VAT, Brexit, Funds and Budget 2021.
- 'Flexible' working under Covid and issues of tax jurisdiction that may arise.
August issue: Review & Outlook: Perspectives from the
Finance Dublin Yearbook 2020 
Also in the issue:
- Government change sees new faces in IFS
- Six legal firms opt for LLP status in 2020 already in Yearbook PSG Guide
- The
Finance Dublin Debt Clock has reversed direction
- Central Bank's securities markets chief Derville Rowland on Ireland's special nature as an international financial centre
-
A Day in the Life - a Company Secretarial Service Provider
Ocorian's Amy McMullan provides an insight of how board business is continuing for company and financial services corporate structures in Covid-19 conditions
- Accountancy & Assurance Forum: - The Managing Partners of the Top 20 Accountancy & Assurance firms assess the state of the economy in 2020, and comment on the sector, and the outlook.
- Ireland and Luxembourg are hosting most of Europe's debt instruments
- The
Irish Tax Monitor: It is important that significant tax changes which were introduced as part of Finance Act 2019 are brought back into focus.
July issue: The 2020 Finance Dublin Top 20 Accountancy Firms Survey shows 9 p.c. growth in fees in the latest financial year
The survey also reveals that, while the individual rankings of the 'Top Ten' firms in Ireland did not change last year, there were significant variations in the pace of growth reported amongst individual firms in the past year.
The Programme for Government (PfG): under the microscope is the new Coalition's 159 page PfG, which contains copious and thought out strategies for financial services, taxation, the financing of the economy, including housing, SMEs, agriculture and the green dimension, which envisages Ireland achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Also, in the July issue: Funds developments, aircraft leasing and C-19, Tax moves related to Covid-19, including in the disclosures area, the Central Bank's PRISM reviews, and new legislation at European level, e.g. in the whistleblowing area, and ESG, as well as Michel Barnier's combative response to the UK latest proposals for FS in Europe after Brexit.
As the Covid-19 Pandemic engulfed the world, people's lives, and their livelihoods, Finance Dublin provided a focus on the
impact at markets and economy level, the right policy choices to make, the lessons in public health economics being learned, and the coping strategies being adopted in the Irish
financial services industry and more widely in a year that has been like no other. The state's post Brexit financial services strategy,
was detailed by Kieran Donoghue, of IDA Ireland.
