Mike Fontaine will replace Susan Dargan as co-head of Global Services, EMEA at State Street Corporation. Fontaine, who was previously executive vice president, US Investor Services at State Street has relocated from Boston to Dublin. Dargan, who had announced her intention to leave State Street in March 2018, is expected step down in the coming weeks to pursue personal interests. State Street SVP Tadhg Young replaced Dargan as country head for Ireland in June 2018 and is also head of global services Ireland and the Channel Islands.

15th August 2018: Fexco today announced the acquisition of London’s leading retail foreign exchange (FX) company, Thomas Exchange Global (TEG). The deal strengthens Fexco’s position as the largest independent FX operator in the UK where it holds 12% of a £9 bn market. The acquisition of TEG which serves over 1 million customers in London across its 15 prominent branches also positions Fexco as the largest independent FX operator in the city, a statement from Fexco said. Fexco has been on the acquisition trail in the UK retail foreign exchange sector for a number of years, and this is its latest acquisition.

July 31st 2018: Goodbody Stockbrokers is to be acquired by a consortium of Chinese strategic investors who will take 100% ownership of the company. The deal is planned to close at end 2018, and is subject to regulatory approval.

18th July 2018: The finance ministers of Ireland and its new partners in an alliance that includes Nordic and Baltic states and the Netherlands have called for resources to be focused 'on those outstanding parts of the CMU Action Plan with the largest impact, which enjoy broad support among Member States and can be completed quickly.' A statement posted on the Irish Department of Finance website today outlines their view on CMU. CMU will be major theme at the upcoming Financial Centres Summit, Dublin 2018 which takes place in Dublin Castle on 2nd & 3rd October.

July 18th 2018: The largest trade repository in the world DTCC, said in a statement today that it will extend its presence in Europe by adding a new location in Ireland ahead of the UK's withdrawal from the EU. The decision to choose Dublin is a win for Ireland, in the light of post Brexit competition amongst EU-27 jurisdictions to attract financial infrastructure businesses in the wake of Brexit, with Amsterdam a strong competitor to gain much of the UK Brexit-related drift to date in other areas of the financial infrastructure ecosystem, such as exchanges.

July 12th 2018: EY announced the creation of 520 jobs, adding to its total existing headcount of more than 2,500 on the island of Ireland today. The new roles on offer will be filled by 215 experienced candidates, with average salaries of €65,000 per annum, depending on experience, with the other 305 roles to be with its 2018 graduate intake, in September, an increase of 57 roles on last year’s intake.

25th May 2018: A 30% drop in the number of people entering the accountancy profession since the start of the recession is leading to a shortage of qualified accountants in Ireland according to Cormac Mohan, President of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland (CPA).

17th May 2018: Morgan Stanley has confirmed plans to extend its fund management activities in Ireland. Ruairi O'Healai, COO and CEO Morgan Stanley Investment Managers, said the firm intends to establish a new business in Ireland and that is has a number of licence applications pending with the Central Bank of Ireland in connection with this. This is a project that has been targetted by IDA Ireland for some considerable time since the Brexit vote. Two other firms, Legg Mason and Standard Life Aberdeen, also confirmed their plans for their Dublin operations at the Irish Funds Annual Global Funds Conference 2018.

17th May 2018: A common position on CMU was cited by Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, as an example of the common interests that would be shared by other member states in the 'association' which he said includes the Nordics, Baltics and Dutch. The Minister was delivering a keynote address at the Irish Funds Annual Conference in the Convention Centre Dublin today. The Minister also said the much anticipated ILP legislation is currently being reviewed in his department and draft legislation can be expected during the course of the summer. Read more at Finance Dublin.

May 15th 2018: Thomson Reuters has applied to the Central Bank of Ireland to move its FX Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) to Dublin to maintain access to the EU's single market after Brexit. Thomson Reuters MTF is one of the largest trading platforms in the global forex market with derivatives trading volumes of more than $300 billion a day. Global foreign exchange is a $5 trillion a day market. The move was welcomed by Minister for Jobs & Enterprise Heather Humphries, and IDA Ireland CEO, Martin Shanahan.