Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill leads joint Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland Trade Mission to Singapore, Ireland’s largest trading partner in Southeast Asia

• Trade Mission a key part of the Action Plan from the Ireland for Finance Strategy: promoting and supporting the digital finance agenda for the industry at home and abroad
• Enterprise Ireland to host Ireland Pavilion at Singapore Fintech Festival, the world’s largest fintech festival, with eight Irish fintech companies showcased across the week  
• IDA Ireland will host meetings with existing & target companies to promote Ireland as a top-tier location for diversified international financial services companies

Implementing one of the key deliverables from the first Action Plan from the updated Ireland for Finance strategy, Minister of State for Financial Services, Credit Unions and Insurance Dr Jennifer Carroll MacNeill T.D, is leading a joint Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland Trade Mission to Singapore commencing today. 

As part of the Trade Mission, Minister Carroll MacNeill will visit the Enterprise Ireland Irish Pavilion at the Singapore Fintech Festival, the world’s largest fintech festival to meet with eight Irish fintech companies showcasing at the event: Intuition Publishing, Daon, MyComplianceOffice, Continuum, Defactor Labs, TransferMate, Fexco, CubeMatch. 

The four-day trade mission will promote Ireland as a centre for excellence and innovation for regtech, fintech and financial services, and celebrate the success of the Irish digital finance industry in Singapore and across Southeast Asia.   

IDA Ireland will also be in attendance, bringing together existing IDA Ireland client and target companies, and focusing  on promoting Ireland as a top-tier location of choice for diversified international financial services companies.

The trade mission programme includes: 

• Bilateral meeting with Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How, Ministry of Communications and Information.
• Attendance at 5 client signings including Daon, TransferMate and Intuition Publishing. 
• Panel participation at the Singapore Fintech Festival regulation stage on ‘Inclusion Accelerated: Creating inclusive policy frameworks’. 
• Opening the new office of Enterprise Ireland client DM Financial.
• Keynote address at Irish financial services reception.
• Visit to the National University of Singapore Business School to discuss fintech skills of the future.
• Enterprise Ireland & Irish Chamber event celebrating ‘Leaders in Finance ‘Asia’. 
• Meetings with existing and prospective IDA Ireland client companies 
• Thought leaders’ roundtable on Banking Insurance & Regulatory issues hosted by Enterprise Ireland 
• Aviation Sectoral Session at the Irish Embassy in Singapore 

Singapore is Ireland’s largest trading partner in Southeast Asia and is the central location for the fintech industry in the region. Both island countries are placed at the gateways to large trading blocs and through global leadership are driving forward the fintech and digital economy with significant investments in education and training to turn out world-class, internationally ready, highly skilled people and companies.

Leading the trade mission, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill T.D., Minister of State for Financial Services, Credit Unions and Insurance said: “Who wouldn’t want to accompany and support our incredible fintech community to build their profile in Singapore.  We have amazing companies with excellent global reach making the trip with us - Intuition Publishing, Daon, MyComplianceOffice, Continuum, Defactor Labs, TransferMate, Fexco, and CubeMatch – and I can’t wait to see their progression continue. 

We are going to Singapore, where the world of Fintech is coming together at this time to think about the future and we want to profile our brilliant companies in a way that has impact for them and for Ireland.”
Leading the trade mission for Enterprise Ireland, Karen Cohalan, Enterprise Ireland’s Department Manager of Fintech, Financial & Business Services added: “We are delighted to return to Singapore where trade links between the country and Ireland continue to go from strength to strength. Singapore remains as Enterprise Ireland’s largest export market for Southeast Asia comprising 30% of total enterprise Ireland client exports for the region, valued at €126.6m in 2022. Exports to the region rose by 9% in 2022. Close to 100 Enterprise Ireland supported companies trade and do business in Singapore, with more than 300 trading across the wider ASEAN region, so this visit is an important continuation in showcasing Irish innovation and the reasons why Ireland is the eighth largest exporter of financial services in the world”.

Speaking at the Singapore Fintech Festival, Michael Carey, Chairman, Enterprise Ireland added: “Enterprise Ireland’s participation at Singapore Fintech Festival reflects our 2022-2024 corporate strategy of ‘Leading in a changing world’ a key theme of which is enabling the acceleration and development of world-class Irish companies to achieve leading positions in global markets. 

It’s wonderful to have this opportunity to meet with Enterprise Ireland clients in market and to promote Irish fintech solutions to the wider Asian region, showcasing Irish innovation and expertise in regtech, payments, biometrics and tech solutions for the financial services sector.” 

Gerard Whitty, Director, ASEAN & Taiwan at IDA Ireland said: “The Singapore Fintech Festival is an important event and engagement opportunity for IDA Ireland’s IFS and APAC teams. The event enables the teams to bring together existing client and target companies and to focus on promoting Ireland as a top-tier location of choice for diversified international financial services companies.  The trade mission also builds awareness of Ireland as a location for FDI from Singapore and South-East Asia, as ASEAN is a developing market for IDA. This visit presents an opportunity to highlight Irelands track record of FDI investment, highly educated workforce, and access to EU markets and talent.