Dublin's International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) employs over 38,000 people and is home to some of the world's leading financial institutions; industry stalwarts such as Merrill Lynch, ABN Amro, JP Morgan. 

Alternative fund managers have had a myriad of regulatory change to contend with over recent years. In the early stages, many chose to take on the reporting burden themselves. This was very much a learning curve. 

The Irish Government is keen to embrace the FinTech revolution as is evidenced by its IFS2020 strategy for International Financial Services, which aims to create 10,000 new jobs in the IFS sector by 2020. 

ML Capital, one of Ireland's leading management company groups, has grown to exceed EUR3 billion of AUM over the last 12 months. The growth trajectory over recent years has enabled ML Capital to evolve from being a leading UCITS platform operator to being more of a fund solutions provider to managers and investors alike. 

There are a number of encouraging developments in Ireland that would, on the surface, appear to place it on a strong footing to further enhance its reputation as Europe's leading onshore alternative funds jurisdiction. 

By Ras Sipko, KOGER – For the past four years, alternative fund managers with US investors have been coming to terms with the far-reaching effects of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act or FATCA. Some 60-plus countries have signed up to cooperate with the IRS in order to enforce FATCA and this year the compliance burden is set to grow yet again. On 31st May 2017, fund managers will have to submit their first filing under the OECD Common Reporting Standards initiative, which can best be thought of as global FATCA or 'GATCA'.