EPIC Investment Partners has announced the continued expansion of its Cork operation, which supports regulated fund services, corporate services, structured finance and aviation administration, a move that matters broadly because it shows an independent London-headquartered administrator deepening its Irish platform, and matters specifically to accountancy professionals because fund accounting, compliance and client reporting are core accounting disciplines now being scaled in Cork and Dublin.

EPIC Investment Partners is a London-headquartered independent financial services firm founded in 2001 by Giles Brand and Hiren Patel, whose administration division supports about 7 billion euros in assets from offices in Dublin, Cork, London and India. Its Irish fund services activities are authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland, and it set out in 2020 to create up to 40 jobs in Cork and Dublin.

IDA Ireland is the state agency responsible for attracting and expanding foreign direct investment, and its chief executive Michael Lohan and Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke both welcomed the announcement.

Hiren Patel, managing partner at EPIC, said Ireland offers the talent, regulatory strength and funds ecosystem to serve international managers as an independent partner.

That independence sits within a very large market. Ireland is home to more than 9,200 funds with net assets above 5.4 trillion euros, and 17 of the world's top 20 asset managers have assets administered there, so EPIC's 7 billion euros represents roughly 0.13 per cent of that total.

The regulatory structure explains why firms of that size can still build Irish businesses. Every Irish investment fund, whether UCITS or alternative, must appoint an Irish-domiciled administrator authorised and supervised by the Central Bank, which creates steady demand for local fund accounting capacity regardless of where managers are based.

The administrator pool itself is small. Ireland has 65 fund service providers, comprising 41 administrators and 24 depositaries, meaning an independent administrator adding Cork headcount is entering a concentrated field rather than a crowded one.

For the sector, EPIC's Cork expansion signals continued demand for fund accountants and compliance specialists outside Dublin, supported by a regime requiring fund administration in Ireland.

Source: IDA Ireland / MHC / Mondaq / Damalion