FIN TECH


FinTech in Ireland


8,800 people are employed in FinTech in Ireland (2015 figures). Circa 400 international financial services companies employ over 40,000 people in Ireland. 69% of financial service companies say they are ‘putting FinTech at the heart of their business’. 25% of established financial service providers expect to lose over 20% of their business to FinTech by 2020.


Source: FPAI


associates and builds their skillsets and experience. ”


some of the world’s largest


technology players, courtesy of the IFSC and Silicon Docks, has


financial and been hugely


important to its success. “One of the biggest benefits we have in Dublin is location, location, location. You cannot put a value on proximity. Most of our major clients are no more than one kilometre from us.”


SCANNING THE HORIZON When Fidelity Investments Ireland opened its first operation in Dublin in 1996,


the


country was its first non-US technology and operations centre. Twenty-one years later, and employing approximately 1,000 people in Dublin and Galway, Ireland remains the only


such presence in Europe for


pool across the western region. The city is diverse in the talent demographics and we have options to pick from well-established experts in the field, to tapping into a large student population. Our office here offers highly complex IT solutions, which challenge our associates and builds their skillsets and experience, and allows them to have a ‘global career’, being perfectly placed in the time zone between Asia and the US.” Fidelity Labs are central to the company’s


R&D activity and, through facilities in both Galway and Dublin, the company scans the horizon for innovations in the areas of A.I., data analytics,


the


company that helps businesses manage their employee benefit programmes and supports financial advisers with technology solutions. Lorna Martyn, SVP, Head of Technology


for Fidelity Investments Ireland, notes that in a rapidly evolving sector, “Technology is both an enabler and a disruptive force across all industries including financial services.” She points to several factors as putting the spotlight on innovation right now. “The demand for services ‘anytime and anywhere’ is driving expectations of a better digital experience; the ability to transact 24/7, whether at home, on the move and in any geography; and for scale in terms of transaction levels and the volume of data processed.” As a microcosm of the broader company,


Fidelity Investments Ireland develops products to support all aspects of the business here. “The combination of business acumen and technology expertise in-house combined with a rich academic ecosystem and Government


location a safe haven for innovation,” she says. While Dublin is often seen as the default


choice for financial services in Ireland, Fidelity Investments Ireland has made operations in Galway key to its overall success here. “Galway is particularly attractive as it opens us up to another talent


cybersecurity, Blockchain


and emerging user interfaces. “All of these will have a profound impact on the way we develop and use financial services in the near future. The pace at which this is happening is increasing rapidly and looking out even three years is difficult to forecast.” Lorna points to a recent project Fidelity Labs undertook to investigate Blockchain and how it could be applied to financial services. “This was a global project key to our research agenda with significant research, experimentation and development work being carried out in our Galway office.” In addition to undertaking its own work,


Fidelity Investments Ireland has also developed a number of ‘communities of practice’ over the years for like-minded associates to increase their capability across Agile, DevOps, data analytics, QA and robotics. “This has contributed greatly to our ability to meet requirements of


the support makes our Ireland changing the market and build a


strong reputation for Fidelity Investments Ireland across our global organisation.” Ultimately, Lorna says, “being able to


bring something from a business challenge or opportunity right


development life cycle, from proof of concept through


to scaled development


through the and


deployment is a powerful offering. Building on this capability to bring more high value work to Galway and Dublin is what’s exciting at this time.”


22 INNOVATION IRELAN REVIEW


offers highly complex IT solutions, which challenge our


“Our office here


Country Managing Director, Accenture Ireland, Alastair Blair


SNAPSHOT


How the Irish financial services sector views FinTech


fear they will lose business to FinTechs


are putting disruption at the heart of their strategy


expect to invest in A.I.


76% 16%


62% 14% are familiar with Blockchain Source: PwC FinTech study, 2017


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