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Minister Eoghan Murphy concludes Enterprise Ireland Trade Visit to China

Minister Eoghan Murphy travelled to China with Enterprise Ireland this week (16-19 January 2017) to support the increasing number of Fintech companies targeting the Chinese market.

The aim of the trade visit was to support the increasing number of Fintech companies targeting the Chinese market as part of Enterprise Ireland’s ongoing focus on market diversification and the growing cooperation between Ireland and China.
Minister Murphy outlined the purpose of his visit saying it was “to demonstrate the readiness and capability of our financial services sector to meet the challenge of the year ahead. Last year’s Brexit vote requires us to accelerate and intensify market diversification beyond our traditional markets. The rapid growth in Ireland’s trade with China over the last number of years and the 20 plus Irish Financial Services and Fin-tech firms doing business in the region illustrate the potential to attract further investment into Ireland.”

Over 4 days Minister Murphy met with over 20 existing and potential customers of Irish companies to reinforce the innovative capacity and strong offerings of Irish tech companies in the financial services industry. Significant leads for several Irish companies were created and progressed during the visit highlighting the opportunities in China for Irish companies with a strong well developed value proposition.

In Hong Kong and Beijing, the Minister hosted two business events with over 180 guests including Irish companies and their Chinese customers and spoke at the Asian Financial forum in Hong Kong on the topic of Payment Technology and Cyber Security.

Leo McAdams, Enterprise Ireland’s Divisional Manager, Financial Services and Business Process Outsourcing who accompanied Minister Murphy during the visit said “The financial services and software sectors are strategically important, fast-expanding sectors in Ireland. In 2015, Enterprise Ireland clients exported €3.7 billion in internationally traded services & software to more than 100 countries. As part of the Enterprise Ireland 2017-2020 corporate strategy we aim to ensure that Irish fintech companies are well positioned to continue to grow their business and make new business contacts in China. Enterprise Ireland is working collaboratively IDA Ireland to achieve the IFS2020 strategic goals which include increasing the number of start-ups, increasing the number of direct employees by 10,000 and driving innovation and research in the sector”.

Minister Murphy met with a number of senior executives from the Asian finance, banking and insurance industries who will travel to Ireland next week with Enterprise Ireland to visit the European Financial Forum and meet with over 30 Irish companies.

The Minister also witnessed an agreement between Enterprise Ireland and SPD bank, one of China's leading banks, to facilitate the promotion of education in Ireland to the growing number of Chinese students looking to study overseas.