ONE MORE THING:IN THE week that Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said he would be announcing measures in the Finance Bill early next year to support the international financial services industry here, it is interesting to note the first move of a Jersey investment fund to Ireland has taken place.

The BlueAlpha Global Equity Fund, which has €56 million in assets under management, has migrated here and received authorisation as a UCITS fund, ie an open-ended fund that is regulated by an EU directive and can be sold in member states.

This follows the relocation here of some Guernsey funds.

The legals for the BlueAlpha move were handled by the Irish office of international law firm Walkers, while Apex Fund Services (Ireland) has been appointed as administrator and the Dublin branch of BNP Paribas Securities Services is acting as custodian.

Paul Farrell, head of funds at Walkers, said the decision to relocate was driven by the promoter’s desire to expand distribution and avail of an EU passport. “They’re specifically targeting South Africa and in South Africa they recognise the UCITS regime,” Farrell told me.

“Therefore the fund could be registered for public distribution, whereas a Jersey fund could not have been. We’ve also done some redoms [redomiciliations] from Guernsey and we’ll see a number of other redoms from the Channel Islands. The rationale is primarily distribution. The Channel Islands are not classed as part of the EU so they can’t establish these UCITS funds and can’t avail of the European passport.”

While they rarely publicised, these funds are a growth sector in Ireland. Employment in the funds arena here increased by about 400 this year. It is expected another 1,500 jobs will be added in 2012, largely due to Deutsche Bank establishing a hub here.

In terms of UCITS, the level of assets under management here increased by €41.5 billion this year. This comfortably outpaced our European rivals. Noonan is right to put his arms around the industry.