If rumours are to be believed, Irish financial services professionals are leaving the country in their droves to pursue opportunities in more buoyant markets. But is this really the case, and is their an argument (from a career perspective) for staying put?

As we’ve alluded to before, accountants – with their internationally recognised qualifications – are looking for more lucrative opportunities in the City and elsewhere in Europe.

However, with opportunities currently thin on the ground locally, financial services workers in other sectors are increasingly looking overseas. They’re certainly not alone – over 120,000 people are expected to emigrate from Ireland by the end of 2011, according to figures from the Economic and Social Research Institute.

“We’re hosting international recruitment open days, which are becoming increasingly popular. The majority of candidates are looking for a move to the UK, but there’s also an interest in moving to Sydney and Asia,” says Andrea Clarkson, manager, financial services at Premier Group. “Qualified accountants, restructuring professionals and credit specialists are all finding opportunities in other financial centres.”

There’s no denying that the UK and Asia are currently offering relatively bountiful opportunities, but whether this will last into the second half of 2010 is debatable. And a general consensus among recruiters is that while the situation is still comparatively bad in Ireland, there are many more open roles within financial services than this time last year.

Is there an argument for sticking around?

“It’s still a tight market, but there are more jobs available now than at any point over the last 18 months,” says Robin Craig, director of recruiters Careers Compass. “International banks and insurers are recruiting and there’s a lot more work coming out of the fund accounting space.”

In fact, the fund admin sector – arguably the Irish financial services industry’s most voluminous recruiter – appears to be one of the key reasons for optimism among financial services workers, and a reason to postpone buying that plane ticket.

The likes of Citco, State Street, Northern Trust and BNY Mellon are adding to their ranks again for a range of fund accounting and asset servicing roles.

“The Irish market is very active, with a number of the major providers actively recruiting again,” says Gavin Nangle, business development manager at State Street in Ireland. “This is driven by an increase in demand for services from global investment managers as well as alterative investment houses. The rise of Ucits funds and the AIFM directive also means Ireland will continue to thrive as a servicing centre and domicile.”

He adds that while State Street, as an international organisation, does offer employees the opportunity to transfer to offices elsewhere in the world, demand for this has diminished recently and there are even some signs of it moving in the other direction.