Scotland's Economy

Strengthening economic links with Ireland

October 18, 2018 by taylorscott No Comments | Category Business, Economy, Exports

Minister for the Digital Economy and Public Finances Kate Forbes will travel to Dublin this week to undertake a series of engagements to strengthen Scotland’s economic links with Ireland.

The Scottish and Irish Governments have been working towards creating greater economic links for some time and the Minister’s visit highlights our ambition to collaborate with Ireland to create more jobs, enhance and expand the range of financial services, and grow healthier and more successful companies collectively, for the benefit of both countries.

During her visit, Ms Forbes will:

• Meet with Michael D’Arcy TD, Minister of State at the Department of Finance and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to discuss how Scotland and Ireland can work more closely after Brexit
• Hold talks with members of the Irish finance community organised by the Scottish Irish Finance initiative (SIFI) – a project working to help the finance industries of Scotland and Ireland work more closely together to create more jobs, a wider range of financial services, and healthier and more successful companies than the two locations would be able to achieve acting alone.
• Attend the PWC Asset Management Conference to highlight Scotland’s strengths as a financial services location
• Visit Dublin City University to learn about their Digital Business Initiatives

Minister for the Digital Economy and Public Finances Kate Forbes said:

“Scotland and Ireland’s shared expertise includes companies at the leading edge of international finance services in digital and fintech sectors which is why we are fully committed to collaborating with Ireland to create more jobs, enhance and expand the range of financial services we can offer and grow healthier and more successful companies collectively for the benefit of both countries.

“The Scottish Government fully recognises the key role that the financial services industry plays in our economy and we are absolutely committed to supporting and working with the industry to strengthen our foothold in financial and business services.

“Scotland’s Financial Services sector contributed £8.3 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) to Scotland’s economy in 2015, employment in this sector was 86,000 in 2016 and six out of the top ten asset servicing firms have operations in Scotland, with funds under management here worth around £800 million.

“To grow this sector further we have provided FinTech Scotland with £250,000 over the next two years to leverage further industry and academic support to realise our ambition to see Scotland in the top 10 international Fintech centres by 2021.”

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