The Irish Funds Industry Association (IFIA) is to open representative offices in the US and the UK in a joint venture with IDA Ireland.

The move means that the Irish funds industry will now have representatives on the ground in New York, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta and London for the first time.

There are also plans to roll out a series of other representative offices in key locations around the globe over the coming months, the association said.

“Opening these representative offices means that we can be on the ground in two of our primary markets to promote Ireland as the jurisdiction of choice for internationally distributed investment funds and be on hand to assist managers looking for the product solutions and expertise Ireland can offer in an ever changing global regulatory landscape,” said IFIA, chairperson Ken Owens in a statement.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny addressed the association's global annual conference in Dublin this morning where he highlighted the importance of the funds industry to economic recovery.

The association announced it is to create over 800 jobs in Ireland by the end of 2011 at its agm two weeks ago.