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BREXIT:IT’S DECISION TIMEParagon Executive

Dublin | New York | London | Hong Kong | UAE | Paris | Luxembourg

This document is strictly private, confidential and personal to its recipients and should not be copied, distributed or reproduced in whole or in part, nor passed to any third party.

The Aviva StadiumOctober 3rd 2018

www.paragonexecutive.com [email protected] +353 1 874 6770

Great recruitment demands different talents; emotional and practical intelligence, curiosity, strong problem-solving skills and an ability to build rapport.

With 110+ years of recruitment experience spread across our experienced leadership team and with a talented group of 28 consultants and growing, we firmly believe that here at Paragon Executive we possess these talents and regularly bring them to bear in our position as an advisor and recruitment partner to our global network of blue chip clients.

We value partnership and work tirelessly to develop long term relationships with our network. We offer our network advice derived from our deep sectoral knowledge, our valued connections and our talent base.

Our team of dedicated, ambitious consultants have specific in-depth experience and industry knowledge of the fintech, banking, asset management, front office environments, professional services and industry sectors both from a technology and a business perspective. We invest heavily in our consultants to ensure they have every available channel to market possible thus ensuring the delivery of a best in class client service.

From our base here in the heart of Dublin, we have grown a business that services clients locally and internationally. Paragon Executive is very proud to have successfully executed some of the highest profile recruitment mandates globally in the last 24 months for clients including Citadel Securities, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Fidelity, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Amundi.

We have attached further details on our firm and how we operate plus information on our recent successful BREXIT event, which we hope you will find useful at this very uncertain time

for us all!

Please contact myself or a member of the Paragon team so we can offer you advice and support on any recruitment related matters in your business.

“There is less traffic on the extra mile!”

Colin McGheeManaging Director, Paragon Executive

Colin McGhee

PARAGON EXECUTIVE OVERVIEWEstablished in 2004, Paragon is an Irish recruitment firm with 28 employees and offices in Dublin, London and New York.

We offer targeted recruitment at all levels within Professional Services:

Paragon is a knowledge based strategic resourcing company providing human capital across a variety of market verticals and invests heavily to ensure our consultants have as many channels to market as possible, ensuring that we deliver the best client service.

Paragon’s work takes us far across the globe and we have in the past 12 months successfully completed executive search and contingency recruitment mandates in Dublin, London, Munich, New York, Connecticut, Luxembourg, Paris, Amsterdam, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi.

Paragon Executive was awarded one of the highest profile recruitment mandates globally in 2017, the strategic build out of the world’s leading Alternative Investment firms in Asia, beating competition from the world’s top 10 search firms.

Our consultants are actively encouraged to think globally and to travel. We covered over 87,000 air miles in 2017 and Paragon are on track to double this figure during 2018.

Technology

Asset Management

Funds & Operations

Banking

Compliance

Legal

Finance

Risk

Practice

Industry

Human Resources

Fintech

Sovereign Wealth Funds

Hedge Funds

High Frequency Trading

PARAGON’S LEADERSHIP TEAM

Colin McGhee Founder & Managing

Director

Robin Craig Business Development

Director

Ross EadesNon Executive

Chairman

Niamh O’SullivanClient Services

Director

Gareth FlemingCommercial

Director

87,698 AIR MILES

COVERED IN 2017 AND WELL OVER

100,000 PLANNED FOR 2018!

Laura KennedyAssociate Director

Chris JohnsNon Executive

Director

Paul JacobsNon Executive

Director

SOME OF PARAGON EXECUTIVE‘SACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE

• Responsible for building a team of over 115 professionals in Ireland for a major global investment firm over the last 14 years. 85 of these candidates were sourced from international markets, to include US, Asia, South America and Europe and the Nordics.

• Extensive experience recruiting on a contingency and executive search basis for the Govern-ment sector locally and for a Sovereign Wealth Fund in the Middle East which selected Paragon to set up their first ever international office in Luxembourg.

• Currently under contract to build out front, middle and back office operation in Dublin for a US-based, global financial institution.

• 100% successful completion of retained assignments.

• Paragon’s Industry & Commerce desk continues to extend its reach across multiple sectors with some significant placements made in the retail sector over the last 6 months, examples include Head of FP&A for a €3billion turnover business and Senior Financial Accountant for leading Irish sports retailer and Group Finance Controller for one of Ireland’s well known PLCs.

• Partnered with one of Ireland’s Top 5 banks for the biggest re-organisation in their history

putting a team of consultants in place and assisting the recruitment of over 50 specialised risk professionals within a tight time frame.

• Exclusively retained to recruit a full team of test engineers (8 people) for a platform provider for high frequency electronic trading during a business-critical growth phase.

• Successfully bid and won a prestigious place on a large international bank’s PSL. A team was organised internally to cope with volume recruitment and strict governance around the deliverables and management of the account. The team was fully immersed in the brand and successfully delivered top talent!

• Built a Corporate Audit team from scratch for a well-known international financial advisory group, relocating a key executive from Boston with family, along with recruiting local candidates to get a specialist audit team in place within 4 months.

• The above client also required large volume recruitment for regional offices in Ireland. This involved mapping out the local market managing advertising campaigns in regional newspapers and radio stations organising and managing open days in regional offices and managing the interview selection process.

PARAGON EXECUTIVEWITH A GLOBAL REACH

Robin CraigBusiness Development Director

Robin is a Senior International Recruitment Director with over 10 years’ experience in Domestic and International Executive search and selection. He has also spent two successful years working as a Recruitment Manager for State Street International as part of their in-house recruitment team where he recruited senior level candidates for offices in Dublin/London/Boston/ Luxembourg and South Africa across front, middle, back office, Finance and Technology functions.

Email: [email protected] Tel: +353 86 022 5592

Colin McGheeManaging Director

Colin is Founder and Managing Director of Paragon Executive Intelligence and has over 19 years’ recruitment experience in financial search and selection.

Colin has worked in both the domestic and international markets including: Dublin, New York, London, Hong Kong, UAE, Paris and Luxembourg. He recruits within Global Asset Management (Fixed Income & Equities), Global Hedge Funds and the Sovereign Wealth Funds sector. He has a strong track record and exposure recruiting within Developed and Global Emerging Markets, covering Research, Portfolio Management, Trading, Quantitative Analysis, Systematic & High Frequency Trading.


Gareth FlemingCommercial Director

Gareth is the Commercial and Technology Director in Paragon Executive, with over 11 years experience recruiting across all IT verticals. Gareth currently recruits internationally (retained mandates) for a wide range of assignments covering all aspects of Technology for clients in the global Asset Management, Sovereign Wealth Funds, Hedge Fund, Private Equity, Fintech and Investment Banking sectors.


Laura KennedyAssociate Director - Data Science

Laura is an Associate Director with Paragon Executive Intelligence and specialises in Data Science. Laura joins Paragon to build out a leading edge Data Science practise which will service our clients in Dublin, London, Hong Kong, New York and San Francisco. She uses her considerable knowledge and experience in the Data Science and Analytics space to find, attract and place the best Data Talent on the market into global blue chip firms including several of the most high profile hires in this space in Ireland.


Niamh O’SullivanClient Services Director

Niamh has over 18+ years experience in sales and management having worked in recruitment and online digital. Niamh has taken up a strategic role within Paragon to lead out the talent development for Paragon Executive and Paragon Alpha and support Paragon’s domestic and international strategies. Niamh is passionate about sales and business development and also about people reaching their full potential.


Chris JohnsFinancial Economist

Chris was most recently Chief Investment Officer for global fundamental equities, State Street Global Advisers (SSgA). Previously he was CIO of Bank of Ireland Asset Management. He has worked in financial services, mostly asset management and investment banking, since 1986. Prior to that he was a Global Strategist for ABN AMRO Securities, and previously held the position as Senior Economist working in the UK Treasury and the National Institute of Economic & Social Research in London.

Email: [email protected]

MEET THE PARAGON TEAMLeadership Team

Gareth FlemingCommercial

Director

Laura KennedyAssociate Director

Robin Craig Business Development

Director

Colin McGhee Managing Director

Ross EadesNon Executive

Chairman

Chris JohnsNon Executive

Director

Niamh O’SullivanClient Services

Director

Office Operations & Marketing

Helen LaveryMarketing Manager

Laura Jane O’BrienOffice Manager

Eoin WildeFinance Manager

Sean SweeneyManager

PARAGONalpha

Desmond HartiganSenior Consultant

Jackie BannerResearcher

Aran RooneyConsultant

Graham MurphyConsultant

Finance, Accounting, Risk,Legal & Compliance

Melissa LamSenior

Consultant

John EnnisPrincipal

Consultant

Mairead CunnaneConsultant

Funds & Operations

Keith DawsonSenior Consultant

David McBrideConsultant

Jessica McCarthyConsultant

Stephen MitchelSenior Consultant

Technology & Data Science

Roisin HendersonPrincipal

Consultant

Thomas HennellyConsultant

Alan HartleyPrincipal

Consultant

Paul JacobsNon Executive

Director

BREXIT:IT’S DECISION TIMEParagon Executive

The Aviva StadiumOctober 3rd 2018

BREXIT UPDATEBY CHRIS JOHNSFinancial Economist, Paragon Executive

As always with Brexit, things change almost on a daily basis. A few short weeks ago it looked like the

odds favoured ‘no deal’ with all of the chaos and uncertainty that goes with such an outcome. Right

now, the mood music has altered somewhat. It looks like Theresa May is on the verge of successfully

completing a Withdrawal Agreement with the EU. But much uncertainty - and the possibility of a nasty

surprise - remains.

The three key documents are the Chequers White Paper, the Withdrawal Agreement and its

accompanying Political Declaration. That Chequers document is still very controversial and could still

cause a lot of trouble. But because it is essentially about what happens after the U.K. fully leaves the

EU, the issues are likely to be kicked into the long grass: they will be dealt with, it is hoped, during the

Transition phase, post 29th March 2019. The Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration will be

designed to get the U.K. into that Transition period, during which everything stays pretty much as it is

until the end of 2020. There is still lots of negotiation to be done about the final terms of Brexit but those

talks could now have some breathing space.

But that is all subject to the Withdrawal Agreement being both successfully reached and subsequently

ratified by the British parliament. Reports on the talks suggest that agreement is close, with the most

contentious aspect, the Irish Border, almost resolved. The likely shape of that resolution is causing

dismay for the Democratic Unionist Party. They are reported to be considering removing support for the

upcoming U.K. budget and perhaps even withdrawing from the ‘confidence and supply’ deal with Britain’

ruling Conservatives. That’s where some of those nasty surprises could come from.

If, as seems likely right now, the Withdrawal Agreement is all but done, the Political Declaration will

contain soothing words designed to help get that Agreement ratified. Attention will therefore quickly

focus on the parliamentary arithmetic facing Theresa May: has she got the necessary votes? Faced with

rebellion from the DUP and some members of her own party, she could need votes from Labour rebels.

The news on Brexit has shifted, slightly, for the better. But there is still lots of water to flow under the

bridge.

EVENT PARTICIPANTS

Chris JohnsNon-Executive Director and Financial Economist

Chris Johns is Paragon’s Non-Executive Director and Financial Economist. Chris brings incredible

expertise to the business. He is currently an Irish Times columnist and financial/economic consultant.

Chris was most recently Chief Investment Officer for global fundamental equities, State Street Global

Advisers (SSgA). Previously he was CIO & CEO of Bank of Ireland Asset Management. He has worked

in Financial Services, mostly Asset Management and Investment Banking, since 1986. He was an

Investment Strategist for ABN AMRO Securities, Allied Irish Capital Management and Collins Stewart;

previously he was an Economist working in the UK Treasury and the National Institute of Economic &

Social Research in London. He also taught economics in London and Cambridge Universities.

During the period 2002 - 2012 he was an appointed member of the Welsh Assembly Government’s

Economic Research Advisory panel. Since retiring from SSgA Chris has worked as a consultant in

various capacities. He has co-authored reports on a number of topics including: Alternative Energy and

the Economics of Advertising. He has regular public speaking engagements.

Pat LardnerCEO at Irish Funds

Pat Lardner joined Irish Funds as Chief Executive in April 2012. He has over twenty-five years’

experience in the global asset management industry and has held executive/leadership

positions in Ireland and overseas with firms managing a broad range of both traditional and

alternative investment strategies.

Pat is an active participant on all significant Government sponsored groups relating to funds in

Ireland, is a member of the Board of the European Fund and Asset Management Association and is an

Advisor to the Asset Management Association of China’s International Partners Committee. He is a past

Council Member of the Irish Association of Pension Funds and a former Director of both the Irish

Association of Investment Managers and the International Investment Funds Association. He attained

honours undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from University College Dublin.

Damien advises on banking and financial services law and specialises in investment funds and

investment intermediaries regulation.

Damien advises fund promoters on structuring, establishing and listing investment funds in Ireland.

He also advises investment companies, fund administrators, custodians and investment managers in

relation to their obligations under financial services regulation.

Practice Areas

• Investment Funds

• Financial Services Regulation

• Investment and Insurance Intermediaries

• Anti-Money Laundering Regulation

• Company Law

Damien BarnavillePartner in the Financial Services team at LK Shields Solicitors

John is a Partner and leads the Global Trade & Customs team in PwC Dublin. With more than

sixteen years’ experience in providing customs and trade advice in Ireland/the UK, John has a wide

experience of the practical application of customs and trade from his period working in industry.

John is a member of the Ibec customs group, and recently attended a customs roundtable discussion

in Westminster. John has provided extensive consultancy support to a wide range of multinational

corporations. With respect to Brexit, John is part of PwC’s Brexit task force. He has spoken at a

number of industry and professional events; overseen a pre-Brexit impact assessment project for a

major US technology company based in Ireland and has managed the development and release of a

Brexit assessment toolkit with a large food & beverages board in Ireland which was rolled out to over 200

companies to assess their Brexit implications. John also recently coordinated a large-scale AEO project

for a US multinational.

John O’LoughlinPartner for Global Trade & Customs at PwC

EVENT PARTICIPANTS

EVENT PARTICIPANTS

Breda O’SullivanManager, Corporate Strategy and Planning at IDA Ireland

Ross EadesCEO at Red Recruitment

Ross is Non-Executive Director of Paragon Executive Intelligence and has over 28 year’s professional

services recruitment experience.

Ross as CEO spent several years building MPS Group International into a circa £300m turnover

European professional services organisation with key brands Badenoch & Clark and Modis. Ross also

spent 6 years building InterQuest Group plc to £100m+ and 4 years completing the turnaround of

Kellan Group plc, both publicly quoted companies.

Ross is a highly effective senior international business leader, with a proven track record in

creating growth, both organically and via strategic acquisitions. He has taken a private business

through an IPO to successful flotation and listing on the London Stock Exchange as well as achieving a

significant trade sale at a premium price.

As well as being part of the leadership team at Paragon Executive, Ross is also the CEO of Red

Commerce, a leading global staffing organisation focused on the SAP eco-system in 6 locations

globally.

Breda O’Sullivan is Head of Corporate Strategy and Planning in IDA Ireland. Her expertise combines

over 14 years working in economics and enterprise policy across the public and private sector.

Breda leads a team of professionals responsible for strategy, economic analysis, management

information, and policy advisory, and co-ordinates the organisations response to Brexit. She has also held

the position of Chief Economist in the IDA and prior to this she worked as an Economist with Enterprise

Ireland and NCB Stockbrokers.

EVENT PARTICIPANTS

Marie HuntExecutive Director, Head of Research at CBRE

Brian DelahuntyHead of Product and Business Development at Barclays

More than 20 years ago, Marie Hunt established the research department at CBRE Ireland, which is

now regarded as one of the most authoritative sources of property information in the Irish market.

A regular commentator in the Irish media on property matters, Marie produces a range of

property market publications and carries out specialist consultancy work on behalf of a broad range of

institutional, private and public sector clients of the Irish business. Marie is an Executive Director of

CBRE in Ireland. Marie is a chartered surveyor and a Fellow of the Society of Chartered Surveyors,

Ireland. In 2017, Marie was awarded Businesswoman of the Year by Image Magazine in Ireland.

Brian sits on the Executive Committee of Barclays Bank Ireland. He is the Head of Product and

Business Development responsible for the full product suite in the bank including Cash Management,

Debt, Trade & Working Capital, Barclaycard, and the Risk Solutions Group.

He manages the international business in Barclays Bank Ireland with clients operating in and out of the

US, UK and Europe being of primary focus. The insurance sector and Fintech is also managed within his

team.

Prior to joining Barclays in 2012, Brian worked at Ulster Bank/RBS for over 6 years and has over 15

years of financial services experience. Brian graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from University

College Dublin. Brian is a Certified Bank Director, a Qualified Financial Advisor and a Fellow of

Chartered Accountants Ireland, having completed his training with KPMG. He is also Non-Executive

Director of Inclusion Ireland which is the national association for people with an intellectual disability in

Ireland.

EVENT PARTICIPANTS

Richard BennettExecutive Director & Project Director for MSIM’s BREXIT programme at Morgan Stanley

Amanda CarmenHead of Executive Compensation & eHR Services at Fidelity International

Amanda joined FIL in 2001 to set up a specialist share programme role within the FIL’s C&B

function. Currently she is Head of Executive Compensation and HR Support Services reporting directly

to the Global Head of C&B, with both strategic and operational responsibilities for equity and phantom

share programmes, providing governance and guidance to shareholders, the business and HR teams,

and working closely with Bermuda Legal as required.

She is a member of FIL Stock Group and is part of FIL’s global C&B leadership team. In addition,

Amanda also has specific responsibility for senior executive compensation (including contractual

arrangements generally at GOC and GOC-1 levels) and HR risk and governance issues and the

global e-HR team. Over the past 18 months she has led the offshoring of the UK and CE HR Support and

Payroll functions to India and still retains a supporting role to help guide and mentor the global HR Share

Services teams. Prior to joining FIL Amanda specialised in credit risk at the NatWest Group and its

subsidiaries, going on to work in a range of functions including Credit, Marketing, HR and Finance.

Outside of FIL she is a Trustee of the registered charity The Penshurst Alms Houses.

Richard Bennett is an Executive Director of Morgan Stanley Investment Management and serves as the

division’s Brexit Programme Director.

Since joining Morgan Stanley in 2004, Richard has held a number of senior Morgan Stanley

Investment Management leadership positions in London and New York, including Head of Strategic &

Regulatory Initiatives, Head of Business Operations and other senior COO and Head of Legal roles. Prior

to joining Morgan Stanley, Richard practiced corporate law with the U.S. law firm Gibson, Dunn &

Crutcher and prior to that with Norton Rose Fulbright. Richard holds a BSc (Hons) Economics degree

from the London School of Economics and Diplomas in Law & Legal Practice from the College of Law in

London.

PRESENTATION NOTES

Chris JohnsNon-Executive Director and Financial Economist, Paragon Executive

“Brexit: Why, Where and When?”

What is Europe for?

Where are we now?

Summary

This depends on who you ask: British and European answers are very different.

‘Project Fear’ fell into obvious traps but was nonetheless directionally correct. The EU is not a state, it is a collection of laws and like or loathe the EU, leaving it will cause economic damage. The EU is, above all else, a legal construct. Laws that can be bent and sometimes broken but laws nonetheless.

Europe have been warring for centuries. The EU arose from the EEC through the Germany and France coal and steel agreement. It’s main reason for inception was to prevent wars within Europe. The UK joined the EU due to their economic decline which has been occurring since the 1930’s.

How did we get here?

The UK triggered article 50 which means any member state may leave the EU in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.There are 3 important documents: Chequers White Paper, Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration. • Chequers White Paper is about what happens AFTER Brexit• The critical document is the Withdrawal Agreement - treaty between UK and EU on leaving, all is

agreed apart from the Northern Ireland border.• The Political Declaration (not legally binding) will be designed to get the WA through British – with

whatever is finally agreed over the Border.

• 6 months to go and we still don’t know.• Best guess: Withdrawal Agreement gets done, just.• Then Transition, then we do it all again: with the possibility of another cliff-edge in December 2020,• Businesses have no choice but to prepare for the worst but with as much flexibility as possible. Hardly

satisfactory, scarcely believable, hugely damaging - but the stark reality.

PRESENTATION SLIDES

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PRESENTATION NOTES

Damien BarnavillePartner in the Financial Services team at LK Shields Solicitors

“Brexit: A Current Regulatory Perspective”

Greenland was the first jurisdiction to exit the EEC in 1985 with issues regarding fish. However, there was no article 50 at the time so now the cliff edge is accelerated and the UK doesn’t get the same length of time.

From a regulatory perspective,, the main thing is the Financial Services Passport. At the moment it is a relatively simple process of regulator to regulator now they may lose this ability and have to register with multiple regulators independently.

Brexit solutions: After the referendum result in 2016 there was silence for a while. Start of 2017 some of the bigger players did jurisdictional analysis. Brexit = pure uncertainty. Big players with capital and resources to make decisions made them. Smaller firms sat on the fence but as matters progressed they finally needed to face up to what was happening.

You need to be prepared. Applications for authorisations need to be really clear about how the business is going to work. How many people are needed to open the doors, how much can be delegated to the UK? How complex is the business? Will they hold client money? People get surprised about the level of comments as CBI really gets under the skin of an application. Also, look at real-life factors like houses, schools etc.

Opportunities:• FS landscape – London is a behemoth for FS. It’s fragmenting a bit. Lots of areas taking business. Dublin

and Luxembourg doing well out of it. Pressure on CBI to make sure proper rigour on applications during high volume time.

• Payments – currently only 11 payments companies registered in Ireland. Some big like Western Union. Might get a snowball effect if loads come.

• There will be lots of opportunities in Ireland post/during Brexit in Asset management, insurance, funds, payment institutions.

• Capital Markets Union – need to ensure that there’s a coherent capital market. Ireland is pushing that.

PRESENTATION SLIDES

PRESENTATION NOTES

John O’LoughlinPartner for Global Trade & Customs at PwC

“Brexit - Focus on Day 1 Readiness”

Customs and Borders are the big issues, whatever happens,

the UK will leave the EU Customs Union. The rules around

trade are very certain and not easily subject to change. As

a result of Brexit there will no longer be a free movement of

goods. The UK will be like China, USA etc, it will be a third

country.

Many people are focusing on the North South border but

the main one we should be focusing on is the east west

trade. There are administration formalities that need to be

addressed.

Elements that need to be considered are:

1. Tariffs

2. Customs Compliance

3. Route to market

4. Supply chain

5. People

6. Regulatory challenges• If a hard Brexit occurs – There will be Tariffs, customs

borders, delays and backlogs, import VAT, other non-

tariff barriers.

• If Transition, then not much changes.

• Even in a Soft Brexit, there will be the same Customs

border. Tariffs only reduced if goods are manufactured

in the EU or UK.

There are a lot of barriers through trade, for example non

tariff barriers which would involve stopping and inspect-

ing pharmaceutical, food and argicultural based products.

Registering with multiple tax systems. Working Capital issues to consider in respect to the payment of import

VAT.

Supply Chain is a very important element. Each business really needs to assess this. You may get your goods

from Ireland but where does your supplier get their goods. Do they enter Europe through the UK and then come

to Ireland?

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PRESENTATION NOTES

Pat LardnerCEO at Irish Funds

“A Funds Industry and Savers Perspective on Brexit”

The effects of Brexit must be looked at now but also

there must be a much longer look forward towards the

future and coming years.

Ireland takes care of a disproportionate amount of

funds in comparison to the population 16.4% of euro

assets. This is fantastic but needs to be properly

managed. Currently and without Brexit there is a

financial land bridge between Ireland and the UK and

also the UK and globally. With Brexit, this will change.

The biggest issue on Irish Funds will be that so many

other countries use the UK to enter Europe and now

they will have to find another way.

Short Term - There needs to be applications,

consideration to the nature and length of transition.

Where business is won and lost by different

locations i.e France, Netherlands, Germany.

Long Term - How the policy will change. How

legislation will change populism. New

commissions. Orientation to 3rd country.

Development of a strategic response.

Post Brexit, the Department of Finance, Oireach-

tas, Dept of Trade will have a really important role

to play with regulators. Regs will become much

more intertwined.

There’s currently a proposal to review EU rules so ESMA could have more power than Central Banks.

Relationships with industry associations must change. How we got outcomes in the past will not be how we

get outcomes in the future. The next strategy is not jobs, it’s strategic competitiveness. Important to think

about the parts that can hamper competitiveness.

3 points: strengthen alliances, act quickly, focus on end investor needs

PRESENTATION SLIDES

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Q&A WITH SPEAKERS

Will there be a withdrawal agreement?

Pat – It’s been very misleading from both sides so far. In any negotiation, there needs to be room for both parties to save face. This hasn’t happened so it makes negotiations very difficult.

Damien – Tory Economic policies will affect it.

John – Stakeholders have so many invested interests. No deal seems capable of getting through the government house and be agreed on. Labour is against any agreement.

Chris – Logic and reason all points to that they will hear an agreement but opposition is so against it

they are not fully considering the economic impacts.

Chris - Infrastructure is really important. London observes Ireland as being full. The vision after 2020 is important. We need to enable the CBI to be a thought leader regulator.

John - We are not seeing major capital investment movers. We need to cater around schools etc. There will probably be a 2-wave cycle of FDI.

Pat - We need clarity to get it through. There will not be a Dublin solution to a national problem.

As the only English-speaking country in the EU what should Ireland do?

Audience Question: 2 questions. Would a 2nd referendum get through? If you haven’t already started the authorisation process should you start it now?

Chris - Unlikely that there will be a 2nd referendum unless a trade agreement is agreed and then voted down in parliament, then there would be either a no deal Brexit or a 2nd referendum. Then it also depends what question is asked. Polls say 52% want to remain but the polls aren’t that reliable.

Damien - It depends on what you want authorised. Everyone was told by CBI to get authorised now in July. It’s probably too late but the CBI would try to help.

Pat - It will be just as difficult in any location.

There’s some naivete that business will still run. The main thing is how could they find talent if they moved. The view is that there’s a lot of talent in London. There’s a fear that if we withdraw the talent will be sent home. Need lots of assurance that senior skilled people will stay. Lots of people said Trump wouldn’t get in so it’s difficult to predict. It comes down to the War on Talent. Paragon is in a good position being in Dublin with a global reach. People talk about coming to Dublin but infrastructure is all important. English language is a big differentiator.

PANEL DISCUSSION NOTES

Richard BennettExecutive Director at Morgan Stanley

87% are just carrying on regardless of Brexit. These are savvy people. There’s massive corporate complacency that after Brexit there will be business as usual.

Ross EadesCEO at Red

Brexit is unique. There’s no map. We decided to do our planning from the ground up and assumed a hard Brexit. We were very concerned about the timing and decided to engage early. The execution for the UK business was to relocate to Ireland after extensive location analysis. Then we organised the process – authorisation, moving clients, talent etc. Lots of elements were interdependent so the sequence was really important. If you have global funds registration you need to engage with ALL regulators. The IDA was helpful.

Richard – tell us about the decision to move Morgan Stanley to Dublin and why?

Are regulators bureaucratic?


There was lots of dialogue. They appreciated that we came early. Think of all the work on the CBI now to process all of the applications.

What could have gone smoother?


“Smooth” and “Brexit” don’t go together. Luckily Paragon have been helpful on the recruitment and resourcing strategy. We need to conclude by March but gave ourselves an earlier internal deadline so we would have a cushion.

Amanda– tell us about why Fidelity International moved to Dublin?

Amanda CarmenHead of Executive Compensation & eHR Services at

Fidelity International

Fidelity is in 26 countries and 20 years in Dublin. Similar to Luxembourg. We were planning to expand Dublin and then Brexit happened and so was everyone else. There’s a Brexit committee in Fidelity looking at strategy. Funds passported across the EU. We engaged with immigration partner Fragomen. We decided to support any immigration queries or applications. This has gone down well internally. People are worried and anxious. We have some non-EU nationals and want to support them. We need to negotiate with regulators and work it through.


Breda O’SullivanManager, Corporate

Strategy and Planning at IDA Ireland

Is there a talent pool in Dublin?Amanda Carmen

Head of Executive Compensation & eHR Services at

Fidelity International

It’s good. Lots of young growing and learning talent. It’s an opportunity to bring in more experienced talent and build the knowledge.

It’s a great opportunity for FDI – how have we done?

We did well. We looked at UK FDI and what we could get through existing companies and potential new business. The UK is a behemoth of FDI. 40% of FDI into the UK is for the UK so we can’t bid for that. We have done well. We’re looking at various data sources for projects.

Marie HuntExecutive Director, Head of Research

at CBRE

What’s the pipeline like?



In FS the decisions have largely been made now. There’s some more in the pipeline but the peak is done. We could have another peak in 2019. We’re getting lots of queries in Life Science. There are some big companies looking at Ireland. It’s not about withdrawing completely from the UK it’s about a blended approach to serve both markets. 100 of 1300 companies registered with the IDA are focused on Britain. It didn’t matter before but now with duties and customs now have to look carefully at this.

Have you been proactive enough about the UK leaving the EU?



We have done a complete reorganisation. Our EU HQ has moved to Frankfurt. The EU team spend a lot of their time in London. Brexit is a net negative for Ireland and the only opportunity is FDI.

There’s been a disaster in property. We’re back to Celtic Tiger rents. It’s a big turnoff for people coming to Dublin. There’s an imbalance in supply and demand.

Organisations never came to Dublin for the low property prices but it doesn’t help that it’s spun against us by other EU countries. The government is aware and there are plans in place to fix it. In the commercial sector, there’s visibility of results. In housing, there’s no visibility yet. Rents were €65psqf during the Celtic Tiger and then they halved and now they’re up again. I don’t think a company would move because of rent. We also now have the offering of flexible office providers like Iconic Offices and We Work which means companies can have a new route to market here without getting into 20 year leases.


Brian DelahuntyHead of Product

and Business Development at

Barclays

What about outside of Dublin?

The IDA has been really good for the “anywhere but Dublin” message but for lots of companies Dublin is their preference. They want to be near clients. They know Dublin.


at CBRE

Are we getting near 20,000 houses per year?

It’s increasing. We need 30,000 houses per year but we’re only doing 15,000. Also, built to rent projects will help. Last year there were changes to planning requirements because we’re not building high enough. Drip-feeding announcements is stalling outcomes as people go back into the process looking for a better outcome.


at CBRE

Talk to us about Barclays move here?

Dublin was the biggest part of our business anyway. It’s easier to bolt on than build new. The key point is preparation. We engaged 18 months ago with the CBI. We had to add 300 approx. new people, new layers of management etc. We used lots of advisors – legal, Paragon etc. Markets, trading, investment bankers are difficult to get. People are now wondering about their future in London. We helped bring people over. We had lots of working groups.

Brian DelahuntyHead of Product

and Business Development at

Barclays

How is your timeline?

We’re on time. We were going to do this anyway. The attitude is that we are over the worst. Processes are started and we are moving forward. The cost of hiring is up. Tax rate is a killer. We have attracted people with dynamic working, diversity, gender policy etc.

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