FUNDS under management at the International Financial Services Centre are now in excess of $50 billion and lending by IFSC banks almost doubled in the last 18 months, according to the Minister of State with responsibility for the centre, Mr Gay Mitchell.
New figures show that international lending by IFSC based banks increased from £14.34 billion in December 1994 to £27.12 billion by the middle of 1996, Mr Mitchell said in a statement.
The advisory group set up to assess the performance of the IFSC and provide guidelines for future development is currently finalising its report, he said. The Government is aiming to ensure that the IFSC continues to expand rapidly and legislation to allow for new products and developments in the financial services industry will be introduced within a proper regulatory framework, he said.
Funds under management at the IFSC in Dublin have increased significantly over the past year. Official figures put the volume of managed funds in the IFSC at $33 billion last September, but Mr Mitchell said the actual figure could be more than 50 per cent higher.
Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Ireland is the largest asset administrator in the IFSC. In the past year it almost doubled the volume of funds it administers from Dublin to just over $7 billion. It is now planning to move all its London based funds administration activities to the IFSC. This will add about $3 billion to the value of the portfolio administered from Dublin.
