​Irish Funds Statement and Member Briefing Document: Russian Invasion of Ukraine

We are appalled by the brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russian armed forces. Our thoughts are with the Ukrainian people at this difficult time, and we sympathise strongly with all those impacted.

As a highly regulated and responsible industry, the funds and asset management industry in Ireland fully support the sanctions taken by the European Union, the Irish Government and other countries in response to the invasion. Our member firms are working with authorities to ensure the effective implementation of these sanctions where they may impact specific investment funds and are doing their utmost to protect the interests of any impacted investors. Sanctions regimes, increased market volatility and reduced liquidity are issues which member firms have well established procedures to address.

The exposure of Irish regulated investment funds to Russian financial markets is very limited representing 0.3% of total Irish regulated fund assets 1 . The latest data available also shows that the extent of Russian investment in Irish regulated investment funds is negligible 2.

We will continue to keep the situation under review and work with our members and authorities to ensure effective compliance with the sanctions.

Over recent days we have been gathering information on the implications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine for investors and our industry. Working Groups have also provided initial input on relevant matters which might be considered when assessing the potential implications. We have collated this into a member briefing available on our Member Portal.

[1] According to data from the CBI, as at 31.12.21 holdings of Russian investments within Irish domiciled funds amounted to €11.4bn or 0.3% of total assets of €4.1 trillion.

[2] Russia did not feature amongst the top 25 investor locations for Irish regulated funds, based on the latest data we have as at 31.12.2020. We don’t have definitive data as to the exact level. We can say that, given it was outside the top 25 locations it was not more than €7.3bn or 0.3% of all monies invested in Irish domiciled funds.