Ireland has the right infrastructure to fuel fintech growth


28 Apr 2017

Image: Africa Studio/Shutterstock

William Fenick from Interxion outlines how Ireland’s talent, tax and data centres can support the growing fintech industry.

Fintech Week

Originally viewed as disrupters in the financial service industry, fintech companies are more and more becoming a way for traditional finance institutions to reimagine their own business offering. In partnering with fintech organisations, traditional finance institutions can bring the new technology and innovation associated with fintech to their customers.

When it comes to the continued growth and development of this area, Ireland has a wealth of knowledge and expertise to draw on, having grown as Europe’s technology hub over the past 25 years. Since then, Ireland’s expertise in this area has continued to grow, making this country home to the world’s biggest technology multinationals – from Facebook and Apple to IBM – along with a thriving start-up community.

The history and depth of this industry in Ireland has fostered a talented and skilled workforce, not only in the technology sector but, more specifically, with expert skills in particular sectors including financial technology. This expertise along with other conditions, such as the language, location and favourable tax conditions, explains why we see fintech organisations choosing Ireland – and, in particular, Belfast and Dublin – for their European headquarters.

William Fenick, strategy and marketing director, financial services, Interxion

William Fenick, Interxion. Image: Robert Aberman

‘How can data centres assist fintech companies as they grow and move from being disrupters to a core offering of the big financial institutions?’

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Bearing all this in mind, what benefit is there of Ireland’s position as Europe’s data centre hub to these fintech organisations? How can data centres assist fintech companies as they grow and move from being disrupters to a core offering of the big financial institutions?

When organisations of any size reach a certain maturity, the options for growth are less based on your organisation’s skills and more so on the market available to you and what it requires. This also rings true in the fintech sector. Once these organisations have grown as much as they can using cloud platforms, they often encounter situations where their clients – or, indeed, the clients of their partner traditional financial institutions – begin to look at their compliance and require that they meet industry and regulatory standards.

Ultimately, this results in a movement towards hybrid cloud where these companies are in control of their cloud solutions, mixing cloud and on-premises IT resources in a way that best supports customers’ stringent requirements. Thus, the fintech organisations can demonstrate that they are meeting those industry standards and partner with large organisations in more regulated sectors, from law and accountancy to insurance. It is Ireland’s data centres that can help fintechs make this next step and continue to grow.

‘It is Ireland’s data centres that can help fintechs make this next step and continue to grow’

So, for fintech companies looking at Ireland as an option for their HQ, they know the talent and expertise are here, along with the other necessities including the language and favourable tax conditions. With Brexit approaching, Ireland has an opportunity to capitalise on its position within the EU. Our similarities to the British market, including our regulatory system, can help attract even more fintech companies to our shores.

These companies can also stand assured that, when it comes to reaching the next level of growth, Ireland’s data centre industry is poised to help them grow.

By William Fenick

William Fenick is strategy and marketing director for financial services at Interxion. He has more than 20 years of financial services industry experience in a variety of strategy, sales and marketing roles, including at TIBCO Inc and Thomson Reuters. Prior to his start in financial services, he was a lecturer at the University of Vienna and held a postdoctoral post at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.