Ireland Holds onto Top Spot for Hedge Fund Back-Office - Clearstream Sets-up Cork Office

Clearstream, a leading provider of post-trade services for financial services participants has announced the launch of its new Irish subsidiary in Cork. The firm that is owned by Deutsche Boerse, will extend its European offerings adding to its Frankfurt and London offices.

Clearstream went live with the new Cork office on the 5th of October, according to Hedgeweek. The new entity, rebranded as Clearstream Global Securities Services Ltd (CGSS), is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Clearstream International SA in Luxembourg (the parent firm), the new office becomes the firm’s largest operational centre for investment funds management and complements the company's existing mutual fund servicing centres in Luxembourg, Prague and Singapore.

Ireland is recognised as one of the largest financial centres for hedge fund administration. Since its launch in 1987, the country's main financial regulator, IFSC, has been enhancing Ireland’s role in both the European and global marketplace as a preferred destination.

Philippe Seyll, member of the executive board and head of investment fund services at Clearstream, commented in a statement about the new office launch: “The large manpower we now have in Cork gives Clearstream greater credibility in the hedge fund space and will allow us to attract much larger hedge fund portfolios. This new hedge fund processing capacity has already attracted significant interest among key players in the market and we expect a solid growth of about 20 percent in revenues by the end of 2015. The combination of the expertise in hedge fund operations of CGSS combined with our operational excellence in mutual funds will take our global fund processing platform Vestima to the next level.”

Ireland has created a strong operating environment which attracts international funds and asset management firms, according to PWCs statistics on the global hedge fund market, Ireland serves over 40% of the world’s hedge funds, thus making it the largest hedge fund administration centre in the world.

Following Clearstream's Acquisition of Cito earlier this year, the two firms successfully completed their integration to support the business in October. Sean O’Donovan, managing director of CGSS Ltd, adds: “The integration into Clearstream is definitely a fantastic step for CGSS – the intention is to further grow our hedge fund processing business. All existing CGSS customers have opted to stay on board and we have received significant interest from prospects.

This is the beginning of a journey in which CGSS will contribute to ensuring Clearstream’s Vestima fund processing platform remains the leading international fund market infrastructure.”

Ireland has built a renowned environment for hedge funds through its various offerings, the country's tax environment is one of the most competitive in the continent at 12.5% corporation tax, with no net asset tax, no fund tax. In addition it has a recognised infrastructure serving over $1.26 trillion in assets under management. The country has attracted leading banks and funds including GAM, BNY Mellon and several others.