Ireland aims to shrug off downturn, seeks front office jobs

As job losses mount in financial centres around the globe, Dublin hopes to buck the trend through business-friendly policies that have already made it an important hub for back office functions.

Thousands of such jobs have been created in the Irish capital in the past two years

alone, mainly in fund management and insurance. Ronan Colleran, a director

at Accreate, a Dublin-based recruitment firm, believes the good times will continue:

"The financial services market has been very good since January. Banks that

had hiring freezes last year have reopened their recruitment programmes," he

said.

Helen O'Reilly, head of financial services at Sigmar Recruitment, said: "There are lots of vacancies. More and more companies are attracted to Dublin."

Most of the jobs are inside the city's International Financial Services

Centre (IFSC). Established in 1987, the IFSC is home to hundreds of firms

including big investment banks such as Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan as well

as fund managers, hedge funds and insurance firms.

The IFSC is the second largest centre in the world for offshore funds

administration and custody, behind Luxembourg.

Low taxes partly explain its success, with corporation tax at just 12.5 per

cent. Even though it has edged upwards from 10% last year, it is still low

by international standards - which could become controversial if the EU moves

more firmly towards tax harmonisation.

A well educated workforce, which does not demand the high wages of London or

New York, also works to Dublin's advantage.

The IFSC focuses mainly on back office functions such as fund accounting and

fund administration. It says nearly 14,000 people are employed there - twice as many

as three years ago - and O'Reilly estimates that 40% are working in fund

administration positions.

Heather Putt, an executive at the Irish Investment and Development Agency,

said the city was encouraging employers to create front office positions in

the IFSC as well. "Dublin has developed well as an administrative centre,

but we want to move further up the value chain and get better paid jobs."

Putt said fund managers looked likely to take the bait. But whether they do, especially in uncertain economic times, remains to be seen.

In the meantime, another front office activity has already grown fast in the city:

corporate lending.

Colleran said there was a shortage of credit analysts, with employers vainly

looking for corporate lending staff with three years or so of international

experience.

O'Reilly said the strength of the market was creating demand for anyone with

experience of syndicated loans, structured loans, acquisition finance,

project finance and special purpose vehicles like collateralised debt

obligation funds.

A lack of experienced staff in Dublin meant recruits were often lured from

London, including many Irish expatriates, O'Reilly said.

There is little doubt that Irish expatriates can be keen to return home.

Colleran said corporate financiers made redundant in London were among them,

but job prospects for them were not so good.

Paul Kilduff, a Dublin-based treasury manager for Merrill Lynch who used to

work in London, said most Irish bankers who went overseas decided to move

back at some stage.

But people moving to Ireland rarely do it for the money. Pay in Dublin can be as 30% below London levels in many roles, recruitment experts said.

O'Reilly said pay for international lending officers in Dublin varied

between €24,000 and €37,000 for staff with one or two years

experience. Someone with more than five years experience might get €72,000

or more.

Bonuses varied between 20% and 70% of annual salary.

A fund administrator with between one and two years experience could expect

a salary comparable to that of colleagues in corporate lending, at €27,000

to €35,000.

A fund administrator with five years experience would be less well paid than corporate lending colleagues, with a typical salary of €52,000 or more, O'Reilly said.

But pay might be on the way up. O'Reilly said salaries in fund administration had risen by more than 10% in the past year.

Few areas of financial services can make that claim.