Exciting future for financial research

Collaborative research between financial services companies and academic researchers in Ireland has the potential to create new companies, technologies and services according to speakers at the joint Enterprise Ireland - IDA Ireland Financial Services Innovation forum held in Enterprise Ireland headquarters, Dublin today.

Governor of the Central Bank, Patrick Honohan, delivered the opening address at the event held in Enterprise Ireland’s headquarters.

Fund and investment managers, financial software services and compliance companies and leading academics in the business and technology fields attended to discuss how collaborative research could help address issues for the sector.

The potential of technology to ensure full compliance with the highest regulatory compliance standards, monitor volatility in the stock markets and to develop risk measurement for the real estate and pensions sectors were some of the topics covered. Technology-based solutions to manage security issues like cyber-crime and financial fraud which affect all financial entities equally were also discussed. 

Patrick Honohan who recently took up the post of Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland gave an overview of the new financial regulatory architecture emerging across Europe which, according to the Governor, could be very beneficial to Ireland.

Following his analysis of the limitations of the tools traditionally used internationally to assess and forecast systemic risk in the financial sector, Professor Honohan said that the new regulatory architecture will require the generation of far more systematic data and the analytical and modelling tools to use this data effectively.

‘I see a clear role for Irish academic researchers in improving regulatory monitoring. It’s an area where I would like to see more researchers involved, and perhaps this is an area in which Ireland could take a leading role,” he concluded.

Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland organised the event to introduce management from Irish financial services companies to researchers in Irish academic institutions to encourage more collaboration between both sides.  

Speaking at the event Kevin Sherry, Internationally Traded Services manager at Enterprise Ireland said:

'One of Enterprise Ireland’s aims is to closely align the research activities in Irish higher education institutes with the specific needs of companies operating in the financial services industry in Ireland. This is to ensure financial services companies in Ireland have access to leading edge relevant technologies and innovation that they can leverage to develop next generation customer solutions for this changing marketplace.'