The 2017 IFS 2020 Action Plan commits the Department of Finance to conduct a public consultation on the potential regulation of crowdfunding in Ireland, having regard to emerging international best practice and in the context of the EU Commission Action Plan on Building a Capital Markets Union. IFS 2020 is the Government’s five-year strategy for driving the growth and development of the International Financial Services sector in Ireland, aiming to create 10,000 new jobs. In this regard, the European Commission has recognised that crowdfunding is part of the broader FinTech universe and has potentially transformative implications for the financial system.
Crowdfunding is an innovative, technology-based form of finance that can be a valuable source of funding for SMEs, either as a complement, or as an alternative, to traditional bank finance. Crowdfunding can also provide consumers and smaller investors with a higher rate of return, at a higher risk, than is generally available from de
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