The growing demand for hedge fund administrators in Dublin

Most people working in Irish hedge fund administration have been sitting tight this year, but with new players coming to Dublin, firms will have to work harder to keep hold of their experienced talent.

Deutsche Bank has just announced its intention to move its European hedge fund administration business to Dublin, which will create up to 100 jobs this year, and this follows the decision of Apex Fund Services to kick-start a new operation in the Irish capital, which will eventually employ 50 people.

Ireland's funds industry has been a comparatively stable sector of the financial services industry, with over 400 new roles created last year, but there's been little evidence of huge hiring sprees until recently. What's more, as we pointed to earlier, it's still very much an employer's market.

"The competition for business has been as strong as ever, but there's been less movement of staff in the last three to four months than there has been previously," says Gavin Nangle, business development manager at State Street in Ireland. "Any new entrant will inevitably target experienced staff of existing providers, but it's also a vote of confidence for Dublin as a centre of expertise for hedge fund administration."

It's not just demand for hedge fund admin staff that's picking up, he adds, but people who have experience dealing with complex investment products - whether that's hedge funds, UCITs funds or exchange-traded funds.

This is beginning to spill over into a new-found desire from candidates to move jobs and a belated realisation from existing employers that they need to work harder to keep hold of good staff.

"The hedge fund administration sector has reached a watershed moment, where staff who have largely stayed put for the last two years are beginning to look for new opportunities," says Paul Smyth, senior consultant at recruiters FK International. "More recently, employers have been willing to make counter-offers."