Ireland is in direct competition with forward-thinking countries to develop itself as a global hub for fintech. John Murphy, fintech leader at PwC, tells us why.
“We need to focus on regulation, funding for start-ups, encouraging entrepreneurship, as well as encouraging incubation and acceleration,” said Murphy, noting how the UK has already met these challenges head on.
For example, more than a dozen retail banking licences will have been allocated to challenger banks by the end of the decade, “that’s big. They have capital gains tax reliefs for entrepreneurs, which will extend into investors soon, too”.
Elsewhere, the US (east coast and west coast), Singapore and Luxembourg pose major threats to Ireland’s position on top of the fintech tree.
Words by Gordon Hunt
