Ireland as a domicile for UCITS Global Fund Distribution

As part of some analysis work done to support our submission to the Department of Finance’s Funds Review 2030 we looked at data related to the net sales of UCITS funds in the 10 year period 2012 to 2022 provided by EFAMA and found some interesting trends and insights.

While it’s been clear for many years that Luxembourg and Ireland have been the 2 largest fund domiciles in Europe the growth rates in assets under management (AUM) in both domiciles have exceeded the growth rate for UCITS AUM in Europe on an overall basis. In 2012 the combined AUM of UCITS funds in Luxembourg and Ireland represented 48% of total UCITS AUM. By the end of 2022 that percentage had grown to 58% of total UCITS AUM. For the period from 2012 to the end of 2022 the cumulative growth rate of UCITS AUM in Ireland was 191% compared to 104% in Luxembourg while the cumulative growth rate of UCITS AUM in Europe as a whole was 91% for the 10 year period. 

The growth in significance of Ireland and Luxembourg is even more pronounced when we look at the net sales data for the 10 year period from 2012 to 2022. Ireland and Luxembourg each accounted for 37% of total net sales into UCITS funds or 74% of total UCITS net sales in the period.

Ireland had positive net sales into UCITS funds each year since 2012, including in 2022 when UCITS funds in Europe experienced a decline in AUM of 13.4%. In 2022 Irish Equity UCITS (predominantly ETFs) and UCITS MMFs experienced inflows of EUR 83bn which was offset by outflows of EUR 44bn, principally from UCITS bond funds.

The first half of 2023 has been positive for growth in Irish UCITS funds  

2023 has also started well for Irish UCITS funds with growth in AUM of +5.8% in the first half of 2023. Net sales into Irish UCITS funds for the 6 months to the end of June 2023 amounted to EUR 26bn with equity funds and bond funds contributing EUR 32bn and EUR 37bn respectively. In the same period UCITS MMFs experienced net outflows of EUR 42bn.