The advent of the euro will further consolidate and strengthen the competitive position of the Irish Financial Services Centre (IFSC), the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, has said. Mr McCreevy said the introduction of the euro would "lead to an increasing degree of financial market integration between participating member states as a consequence of the removal of foreign exchange rate risk".
Mr McCreevy added that he was aware of "concerns" among some IFSC companies about the ending of the EU Commission's guarantee of a special corporation tax rate of 10 per cent.
He gave assurances the Government was determined to reduce the current standard rate of corporation tax toward a single low rate.
The Minister was speaking at yesterday's annual Offshore Funds conference in Dublin.
He stated that one "of the most important developments" in the IFSC was the significant increase in "back-office" activities, which he said complement the "front office" IFSC funds operations.
He added that the "high standards of regulation and control over operations in the IFSC have added to the centre's reputation as an active location for financial services".
