The opening of the Hong Kong office was formerly announced by the association’s new chief executive Pat Lardner at an event it hosted in Hong Kong earlier this week. Lardner took over as CEO from Gary Palmer last month. Palmer is expected to continue working with the IFIA in a consultative role for the next 12 months.
Lardner said the new operation, which is a joint initiative between the association and the Irish Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in HK, would be led by Conor O’Mara – chairman of the ICC.
Lardner, who has returned to Ireland to take up the role at IFIA from Australia, said: “The move will bolster the IFIA’s Asian strategy which over the past number of years has seen the IFIA host numerous Asian seminars during industry missions to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul and Kuala Lumpur led by International Financial Services Centre, Ireland (IFSC) Chairman and former Irish Prime Minister John Bruton.
“These events continue to develop and highlight the strengthening links between the region and Ireland. There are currently 60 promoters from the Asia Pacific region with regulated funds domiciled in Ireland.”
In November last year, the IFIA announced plans to expand its operations in Asia and at the time opened new representative offices in Singapore and Tokyo and Ken Owens, chairman of the IFIA, said the association plans to have a “presence on the ground in all the key markets in Asia”.
