Disruption has become the baseline condition for financial services — and Irish firms are responding with purpose. DLA Piper’s Financial Futures: Leading through Disruption report, which surveyed 800 senior decision-makers at global financial institutions including 30 in Ireland, finds firms are investing in core systems to withstand prolonged geopolitical instability, adapting to trade barriers, and embedding compliance into strategic planning. Optimism remains strong: 83% of respondents are confident in the sector’s outlook over the next 12 to 24 months.

For Ireland’s financial services community — at the intersection of EU regulation, US multinational exposure, and growing cross-border connectivity — the findings describe a sector actively engineering resilience. Three Irish-specific results deserve direct attention from accountancy and finance leaders: elevated financial crime vigilance, outsized AI investment, and a sustainability opportunity shaped by EU regulation.

Irish firms are markedly more alert to financial crime than global counterparts. The report finds 67% of Irish firms cite financial crime among their top three challenges, against 45% globally, while 70% cite cybersecurity and data protection risks compared with 48% globally. Chris Jessup, financial services regulatory partner at DLA Piper Ireland, attributes this to Ireland’s global connectivity and cross-border exposure. For finance functions, this translates into audit scope, internal controls, and AML and compliance framework robustness.

Ireland’s AI adoption rate is equally striking. Some 87% of Irish financial firms are investing in AI, compared with 66% globally, while 80% are providing staff training against 58% globally, and 70% are developing ethical AI frameworks against 49% globally. This is structured transformation, not passive adoption. Finance functions that have not framed AI investment as a governance question risk falling behind the sector’s own emerging standards.

The sustainable finance opportunity is substantial. Driven by EU requirements including the green asset ratio, 77% of Irish firms identify sustainable finance product development as a key opportunity, against 57% globally. For CFOs and finance directors, this creates both a reporting obligation and a commercial opening — firms that build capability to measure and communicate ESG-linked activity will capture the capital flows regulation is designed to direct.

The accountancy function sits at the centre of all three challenges. Financial crime risk demands stronger controls and deeper audit rigour. AI adoption requires governance frameworks and ethical oversight. Sustainable finance growth requires credible measurement and reporting. Finance leaders should treat the DLA Piper findings as a mandate to expand scope and capability.

Ireland’s financial services sector is not merely coping with disruption — it is leading through it. The report points to a sector that has accepted instability as the operating context and is building the infrastructure to compete. For accountancy and finance professionals, the window to shape that infrastructure from within is open now.

(The views expressed by the writer are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of BusinessRiver.)