A recent report by Deloitte, commissioned by IDA Ireland, pinpoints several financial sector opportunities for the country. Deloitte says areas of opportunity include specialist debt/financing products and securitization, managing global or regional banking accounts, funds servicing, asset management and pan-European mass risk/retail insurance products. Ireland's international financial services sector employs approximately 20,000.
      Both Ireland and the U.K. have attracted considerable recent investment in the sector. Here's a glimpse:

• Citigroup is establishing a technology center in Belfast, Northern Ireland and will create up to 375 jobs.
• Cigna Healthcare is creating 100 jobs at its insurance claims center in Galway, Ireland.
• Construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar is creating a new shared financial service center in Northern Ireland to service its network of companies across Europe.
• Internet firm Yahoo! plans to establish its European operations headquarters in Dublin. The new facility, which will create 400 jobs over five years, will have operations that include financial shared services.
• Connecticut-based insurance and investment firm Hartford Financial Services Group is establishing operations in Dublin and will employ 130 over the next five years to manage life assurance business in the U.K.
• Excell Contact Centres will create 180 jobs at a call center in Paisley, Scotland, to primarily handle financial services clients.
• Avanade, a joint venture between Microsoft and Accenture, has opened a new Scottish operation in Edinburgh, citing continued financial services sector development in the region as an influential factor.