€1.5bn NTF fund ‘could ease finance skills crisis’ FINANCE

● Financial services can be a powerful engine for growth but not without the skilled staff needed, writes Fearghal O’Connor

Ireland’s booming financial services sector is facing an increasing shortage of skilled graduates despite the availability of a €1.5bn government training fund that could be used to tackle the problem.

A shortfall in skilled graduates is a significant concern within the industry as it seeks to capitalise on growth opportunities, according to Patricia Callan, director of Financial Services Ireland.

Last week, the Department of Enterprise issued a report from the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, which found that there was potential to create 9,300 new jobs in the sector between now and 2027.

FSI welcomed the report but has warned that an annual shortfall of graduates coming into the sector was “a concern”. The report highlighted that the sector could face an annual shortfall of up to 4,300 graduates over the period.

“It is vital that we address the factors influencing this in the short term, so that growth opportunities can be realised,” Callan told the Sunday Independent. She called for faster curriculum changes at universities to ensure Ireland was able to capitalise on opportunities in emerging growth areas such as sustainable finance and AI.

But, she said, a key barrier to improving both the throughput of skilled young graduates – and the upskilling of older employees – was the use of the €1.5 billion ring-fenced

National Training Fund (NTF).

She said the use of this fund was “a low-hanging fruit” that could make an immediate impact on addressing skills and labour shortages.

It could, for example, be used to provide training vouchers to firms to help widen participation in upskilling and reskilling, cutting down on some of the time and cost barriers firms face in this area, she said..

“But there is a national accounts issue as far as I’m aware,” she said. “Even though it’s a distinct pot of money set aside for a specific purpose, if they spent it, they would then face a problem spending in other areas of education and health. The way it’s accounted for in our national accounts would send us beyond our budgetary targets and that would be a problem with the EU, even though other governments around Europe do that all the time.”

“It might require legislative change or a change to some rules somewhere but basically it’s a really technical issue they need to sort out,” she said. “If that money was freed up it could turbocharge our reskilling and upskilling efforts.”

With global competition intensifying, Ireland’s financial sector leadership role is not guaranteed, she warned.

“Investment decisions can go elsewhere if talent cannot be sourced locally. Urgent coordination is needed between government, educators and industry... to support the industry in the years to come,” she said.