Bermuda's Apex Fund Services is expanding, this time opening offices in Ireland.

The firm expects to create between 30 and 40 jobs at the new location in Cork.

Apex, which is headquartered in Reid Street, already has operations in Cyprus, Mauritius and most recently Dubai.

A further expansion into Asia, in Hong Kong and Singapore .

He said it was a regulatory necessity to be based in Ireland to administer Irish/European funds. While Dublin is a hot-bed of financial services, particularly fund administration, for Europe, Apex had opted to set up an office in less crowded Cork where Apex majority owner Peter Hughes feels it will be possible to attract staff away from Dublin.

"You are not authorised to provide administration to Irish funds unless you are in Ireland. We would be losing a lot of business if we were not there," explained Mr. Hughes.

While Bermuda will remain the hub of Apex' operations, the overseas offices are likely to be staffed by around 30 or 40 people eventually. In the next few months the firm intends to open an Asia presence and therefore have offices in all the major financial time zones.