Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 June 2023
123. Deputy Emer Higgins asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide a report on the ministerial trade visit to Money 20/20 Europe 2023 in Amsterdam; the way in which he supported IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland to achieve their objectives on this visit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29962/23]
View answerThe Minister of State for Financial Services, Credit Unions and Insurance attended Money 2020 in Amsterdam on Wednesday 7 June as part of a trade mission. The itinerary was developed by Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. Money 2020 is the largest global fintech event attended by over 7,000 from the fintech community, including multinational companies, banking, investors, and start-up companies from across the world.
Minister Carroll McNeill attended several engagements throughout the day. Firstly there were engagements with exhibiting Enterprise Ireland client companies. They included Transfermate, Daon, Assure Hedge, Currencyfair, Know Your Customer and Fenergo.
A meeting was held with the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA) and its sister agencies, Innovation Quarter, Amsterdam in Business and Holland Fintech. Areas of discussion included the topics of common interest between the Netherlands and Ireland and the opportunities for Irish financial services companies to grow in the Netherlands.
A roundtable luncheon was held entitled ‘The future of regulation within the financial services industry and evolution of technology’. A variety of organisations attended including Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Leaders in Finance, De Nederlandsche Bank and companies including Corlytics, Fenergo, ID-Pal, Know your Customer, DigiTrust, CM.com, Lelieveldt and ING Bank. The topics discussed were rules based versus risk based approach to regulation and corporate transparency versus privacy.
Meetings were held between the Minister of State and representatives from IDA Ireland client companies and target companies. These meeting were important engagements in helping to highlight the significance of the financial services sector in Ireland and the importance of foreign direct investment to the economy.
The Minister of State also attended the Enterprise Ireland Client-Buyer Networking Canal Cruise which was attended by Enterprise Ireland companies, Dutch and EU buyers, and partners.
This trade mission was an important part of the implementation of the Update to Ireland for Finance strategy, in particular Theme 4: Regionalisation and Promotion. Part of this theme aims to maximise the potential that events like Money 2020 represent for international promotion of the international financial services sector to investors, individuals and companies.
The objectives for Enterprise Ireland included to promote Irish fintech companies on a global scale and to raise awareness of the breadth of Ireland’s financial services offering. The objectives for IDA Ireland were to promote Ireland as a world class investment location for international financial services companies and to continue to demonstrate the capacity of Ireland for investment from this sector in a post-Brexit and post-Covid environment.
The feedback received from Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland has been very positive in terms of the Minister of State’s participation and promotion of Irish fintech companies and the promotion of Ireland as a location for international financial services companies.
