London Lord Mayor Michael Mainelli sees Derry/Donegal potential as international centre for financial regulation

Alderman Mainelli was speaking after a two day visit to Derry where he met with civic leaders, local businesses, educationalists and pupils and staff at Foyle College.

The Seattle-born scientist, engineer and accountant is the 695th Lord Mayor of the City of London and takes over from Nicholas Lyons, whose father, the historian, Dr. FSL Lyons, was born in West End Park in the Bogside.

He is the third consecutive Irish Lord Mayor of London following Lyons’ term and that of Vincent Keaveny, who was the first Irishman ever to hold the role when he became the 693rd Lord Mayor in 2021.

“We are like buses: you wait for ever and then three come along at once,” joked Ald. Mainelli.

He told the ‘Journal’ that while he has been visiting the North, including Derry, since 1980, when he was attending Trinity College, Dublin, it was the ‘one region I probably felt least informed about’.

His last visit was approximately five years ago and he was keen to make it his first regional visit ahead of a hundred day global tour of 25 countries to promote the City of London and the UK which commences in the United Arab Emirates on Friday.

He started his visit to Derry with breakfast with the FinTrU CEO and founder Darragh MacCarthy on Friday last before being hosted at the Guildhall by the Mayor of Derry and Strabane Patricia Logue and Council Chief Executive John Kelpie.

“We saw your mayor which was superb and talked to her about regulation, a lot of cross-border activity and some of the issues to do with tourism,” he said.

During lunch with the Chamber of Commerce the potential benefits and challenges arising from the Windsor Framework were on the lips of many diners, he said.

“I think most of the conversation there was about the opportunities of cross-border travel and the stability or not of the Windsor Framework,” he said.

He enjoyed a visit to Foyle College and a round table with students who will be in London shortly to compete in a City Academy Awards competition being hosted by the Lord Mayor in the Mansion House.

He toured the Catalyst innovation centre at Fort George where he heard about plans for an International Regulatory Innovation Supercluster being developed with the Atlantic Technological University, Derry City and Strabane District Council, Donegal County Council and Ulster University.

Ald. Mainelli identified this as a presenting a major opportunity for the North West.

He explained: "One of the things we were discussing today [is] if we are going to be a regulatory centre up here could we get, maybe, the Financial Conduct Authority to set up a branch office here and equally get the Central Bank of Ireland in Ireland to set up a branch office close to the border to emphasise the cluster?

"There is a lot of opportunity. Obviously we are throwing some ideas around today which are a bit new. You know what that is like - three quarters, nine tenths of them - won't see the light of day but I was very encouraged by the conversations, by the enthusiasm, the strength of the manufacturing cluster, the strength of the financial services, and the emphasis on regulation.”

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Ald. Mainelli told the ‘Journal’ he believes that following the agreement of the Windsor Framework earlier this year which eliminated red-tape on goods being traded across the Irish Sea it was now possible to position the North as a centre for emerging sectors of the economy.

“Now that the protocol is kind of out of there – it was actually really about physical trade which isn't, I think, the strong suit if you see what I mean - I think now that that is bedded down we can now move on to how we cooperate on finance.

"How do we cooperate on legal services? How do we co-operate on AI? How do we cooperate on cyber? These are all the big opportunity areas and, frankly, I think NI is well-placed.”

In a past life the Lord Mayor worked as a financial advisor to successive Taoisigh Enda Kenny and Leo Varadkar and during the International Financial Services Centre 2020 programme he was appointed an international member to help drive that forward with both the Taoiseach’s office and the Department of Finance.

Having regularly worked in Ireland over the past four and a half decades he sees many advantages in cross-border cooperation.

“I think the relations and the use of an all-Ireland approach is really fascinating. When you look at the fact that Ireland is a common law country within the European Union (EU) and Northern Ireland is a common law jurisdiction in the UK but they are both based on the same island. Regulators like to be able to balance between the two. We had a lot of discussion about that today.”

The Lord Mayor enjoyed a dinner with The Honourable The Irish Society while also visiting some of Derry’s main tourist attractions before heading back to England to prepare for his global tour.

He told the ‘Journal’ it was a fruitful trip to what he considers one of his homes.

"I'm Irish despite the accent,” said the third Irish Lord Mayor in succession.

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The Mayor of Derry & Strabane, Colr. Logue, said their meeting was a platform to share recent success stories, including the announcement by FinTrU of plans to invest over £20m and create 300 new jobs in Derry.

“As a Council we are committed to developing strong international business links, and will continue to explore opportunities for future investment and growth, building on the fantastic work that has already been done to develop our key industries, the emerging fintech cluster here, as well as shared interests in innovation, education and climate action,” she said.

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