Ireland’s asset and wealth management industry could expand in value to $9 trillion (€7.9 trillion) by the end of the decade, amid strong and growing demand for EU market access among international fund managers.
In a new European study, PwC has said it expects the Republic’s position as a “pivotal and strategically distinctive” location within the continent’s investment landscape to help drive annual growth of around 9.7 per cent in each of the next 3½ years.
The industry here manages assets valued at $5.2 trillion at the end of 2024, according to the report.
That is expected to grow to $9 trillion due to several specific factors working in Ireland’s favour, PwC said.
The Republic has “an established position” as a global fund domicile and administration hub, the report’s authors said, an “increasingly valuable” reputation in an “environment of diverging regulatory regimes and growing demand for EU market access from non-EU managers”.
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and their growing popularity as an investment vehicle are another key factor.
PwC said the State was the “undisputed ETF domicile” and administration hub, with more than €2 trillion in assets under management. That figure could grow to $4.1 trillion or more by the end of June 2030, it added.
The industry here has also established the Republic as an internationally recognised platform for UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities). These are funds regulated at the EU level, which PwC said are expected to become more important as national governments look to find ways of mobilising the €10 trillion stored up in savings across the bloc.
“Ireland’s role in European asset and wealth management is entering a new phase of strategic importance,” said Mary Ruane, asset and wealth management leader at PwC Ireland.
“The combination of UCITS distribution reach, alternative fund expertise, and EU market access positions Ireland as the natural structuring hub for the private markets democratisation and savings mobilisation that will define the decade.
“In particular, we are also seeing significant opportunities for Ireland’s funds industry from growth in ETFs, private markets and the tokenisation of these products. Managers that deepen their Ireland capabilities now will be building competitive positions that will compound in value through 2030.”
At a European level, the industry is expected to have $48.5 trillion in assets under management by 2030, bolstered by a boom in wealth management.
“The wealth segment – high net worth and mass affluent investors – is now the primary engine of European AWM growth, and will account for more than two-thirds of client assets by 2030,” PwC said.
