Funds & Asset Management Careers

I joined PwC through the graduate intake in 2014. I was a recent graduate in History and Political Science at Trinity College Dublin, with no experience in Funds or finance generally. I joined the Asset and Wealth Management (AWM) Assurance practice at PwC, and completed my 3.5 year ACA contract there, before moving internally to the AWM Regulatory Advisory team.

As a non-business/finance graduate, I had a huge learning curve when I joined PwC. I enjoyed learning about the Funds industry generally – one of the most enjoyable parts of my job is the constant learning process. The Funds industry is a very changeable and evolving area, and it is often challenging to keep up with developments. I have had lots of opportunities since joining PwC to take training courses in specific Funds areas, participate in industry events and engage with trends and new developments in Funds.

I also enjoy the people aspect of my job. We work with a large variety of clients, and we have the chance to be involved in a lot of internal projects and work with a lot of people in different areas of the business both in Ireland and internationally. I’ve found that in both roles I have had in financial services, there is a huge amount of collaboration involved, and those relationships make the job much more enjoyable, even through busy and stressful times.

Since moving to my current role, I have been working across a lot of different projects. I have recently been working on a number of projects relating to ESG, and have really enjoyed having the opportunity to work in this area. ESG is becoming much more mainstream, and is a very interesting area to be involved in.

When I joined PwC in 2014, I was a recent graduate from university. Since joining PwC, I completed my training contract in Assurance (audit), from associate through to an Assistant Manager level. I have switched recently to a new role in a regulatory advisory team at PwC.

I would say that it is an area that is constantly changing, which means that there are a lot of opportunities for anyone who is considering it. I think before working in the sector, I had an idea that it was much more limited and narrowly-focused than it actually is. Particularly now, working in a consulting team, I can see the variety of roles and opportunities out there both in Ireland and internationally that I was not aware of before.

I started the graduate programme with no knowledge at all of the industry, and we had limited ability to choose which audit area we were initially assigned to. I probably would not have chosen the asset management department, as the Funds industry seemed daunting from an outsider perspective. The structured graduate training programme was thankfully designed with that in mind, although I wish I had paid more attention to finance/business news before starting in my first role in Financial Services (FS).

There are a lot of resources online for most areas of FS, but I think the best learning comes on the job, and through the people around you. In all areas and businesses that I have worked with, there have been really approachable and knowledgeable people and I have found that I have gained most of my knowledge from working with these people. For someone who had a similar lack of experience to myself, I would suggest that they reach out to someone who is in the industry and talk to them.

There are a lot of different groups internally that support and promote diversity and inclusion. Since I joined the firm 5 years ago, our workforce has become much more diverse, and we have a large number of international secondees working in our teams.

PwC Ireland staff are also encouraged to do international secondments to different offices in the network. We are given a lot of opportunities to join in all of these initiatives. I think that it is easy to lose focus on some of these issues during busy times, but they are very important in creating a good working culture. I have participated in some of these events, particularly around International Women’s Day.

Work-life balance is probably the biggest drawback in areas like audit. There is a busy season, which inevitably has an impact on work-life balance. My current role is more project based, so the balance is much better, and my hours are more balanced. I have probably also gotten better at managing my commitments, and learning my own limits. Certainly at PwC, and within the industry in general, there is a huge growth in the amount of technologies and automated solutions that are being used day-to-day, which should address some of these problems.

PwC also promotes a very flexible working culture, and that flexibility is definitely one reason that I enjoy working where I do. I work from home regularly, chose my own working hours (within reason!) and I have been able to take extended leave periods during the summer to travel, so there are definitely silver linings to the intensity of busy seasons!

I am a senior IT Business Analyst at Carne Group with 20+ years’ experience in the Funds industry. I joined Carne in February 2018 just as it was going through a major expansion phase. My role revolves around Carne Group’s FinTech company – Carne Digital Solutions – and the systems being developed to meet the needs of Carne and its clients.

The thing I enjoy most about my job is identifying the Opportunity in the Challenge. Whether designing new systems, collaborating with clients or working closely with fantastically talented colleagues, I feel privileged to be working in a fast-paced industry where each day brings new challenges and the only constant is change.

Aside from my greatest achievement - three happy and healthy children - I am extremely proud of the work I am currently doing for Carne’s FinTech company. The platform we designed and built, CORR, is enabling our clients to meet their goals in terms of Compliance, Oversight, Risk and Reporting.

I started working in the IFSC back in 1998, working with Deutsche International followed by periods in State Street, Pioneer Investments and Amundi before joining Carne Group in 2018. I have held a wide variety of technology-based roles during this time – from Software Engineer to Database Administrator and Development Manager to Senior Business Analyst. My career has evolved from coding software to analysing problems and designing user-friendly state-of-the-art solutions.

The financial services industry offers a huge variety of career opportunities that cater for all types of people. The key to being successful here is to research, locate and land the job that has the best fit for your skills and interests.

I would strongly recommend taking the Professional Certificate in International Investment Fund Services programme run by The Institute of Banking. This course greatly helped me join the dots in terms of what each of the different parties to a fund do and how they interact with each other. It provides a fantastic foundation for building a long-term career in the industry.

I have very been lucky in that all of the firms I have worked for have taken their Corporate Social Responsibility very seriously. Some of the charities I have been given an opportunity to support are Chernobyl Children International, Junior Achievement Ireland, Sunshine House, LauraLynn and Pieta House’s Darkness Into Light.

Work life balance for me is a skill in itself. It’s not always possible to get the perfect split between work and home so taking advantage of modern work practices like flexible working hours really help. While it’s important to be available, I find it’s equally important to be able to set boundaries and switch off in order to recharge the batteries for the next day at work. Carne’s dynamic work environment allows me to have the best of both worlds.

My name is Zhuriqa Jalil and I have been with Brown Brothers Harriman Fund Administration Ireland Limited for a little over 10 years.

Originally from Sarawak, Malaysia, I moved to Ireland in 2005 with the intention of completing a degree in accounting and finance. 13 years down the road, I am still in Ireland and I am now ACCA qualified and I recently completed a Professional Diploma in Applied Alternative Investments. With the financial support of the BBH scholarship programme as well as support from my direct manager, I was able to juggle study and being a working mother.

My career with BBH started in the Financial Reporting department, I transitioned over to the Client Service Group around 4 years ago and at the moment I am a Team Leader. Career mobility within BBH is not uncommon, definitely worth keeping in mind if you’re considering a career within the fund industry.

In my current role, I am very much client facing and I find it satisfying to be able to match clients’ needs with the services we offer. This means that I have to challenge myself by keeping up to date with regulations and industry developments.

The fund industry landscape is always changing with new regulations and evolving technology. I make sure I am prepared for these developments through the support and training I receive in-house and by keeping myself up to date with information from Irish Funds and other publications.

In short, I would say the learning never stops!

In BBH, it is not all about work. We have a number of networking groups (or BANC network as we call them) to support employees in their chosen activities or cause. In Dublin some of the groups include the Asia Link Network, Pride Network, Parenting Network and the Young Professional Network. We even have an in-house toastmasters club!

If I were not working at BBH I think I would bake and sell kek lapis, a layered cake very popular in Sarawak!

I studied Finance at Queen’s University Belfast, graduating with a first class honours. I gained as much experience as I could through internships across many areas of finance including Morgan Stanley, the Financial Times, and of course – Citco.

I had a 15 month industrial placement in the Citco Risk & Valuation team during my 3rd year of university. I enjoyed and learnt so much I was very keen to come back. My manager was excellent at keeping in contact and offered me the opportunity to return after graduation.

It’s a very comfortable and friendly working environment; flexible working hours, paid overtime, free drinks/breakfast, lounge area.

I love the encouragement and free reign to pursue projects that I believe will be of benefit to the team, such as; masterclasses, lunch & learns and R&D. I’ve a lot of control over what I want to learn, and this allows me to take responsibility for my own work and career development.

Never to just click buttons, always ask what is going on behind them. Dig into things you don’t understand and don’t be afraid to propose new solutions.

For the team I work in, a finance background serves as a great foundation to develop more quantitative skills. Bloomberg seminars are encouraged, CFA study is supported, and I’m constantly developing programming skills on a daily basis. Citco is great in that the direction of your personal development is very much up to you.

I’m originally from Bangalore, India and am currently working in the HFS Corporate Actions team, Ireland - Northern Trust. Prior to this I have worked with the Corporate Actions team in Saxo Bank, India for 1.5 years. Prior to Saxo Bank, I worked in the Northern Trust fund accounting corporate actions team for 6 years and Thomson Reuters for 2.5 years.

As my wife moved to Ireland I tried looking for opportunities here and got selected for a role in HFS Corporate Actions team.

It has been a great experience and dealing with the client on a day-to-day basis is a good learning experience. As I have already worked in Northern Trust Bangalore and a few partners already know me in the organisation, it has helped me to settle in easily.

Yes, the onshore activities and the client interactions is a different experience, challenging but a great learning curve for me.

As I have worked across different organisations, I have seen the accounting and the custody side of corporate actions which has been great and has helped me understand both sides of processing.

The top three are:

At Northern Trust Bangalore I worked on a market value check template to develop a control before we process any event to ensure we are within the tolerance.

At Saxo Bank I worked on the account migration from global custodian to local custody.

At Northern Trust Ireland I worked with internal teams to develop income accrual controls for coupon rate changes on clients due to the CPI factor change on UK Gilts.

I started my career at Thomson Reuters where our data was used as a feed provider for sourcing corporate Action information.

In Northern Trust Bangalore, there was a new team set up where the activities were transitioned and I worked with the onshore team closely to ensure all the activities were migrated smoothly. I was with the fund accounting support team working on dividends and corporate actions processing, across equities and bonds.

In Saxo Bank, I worked for the Corporate Actions team and as a broker my role was to work on the instructions, notification and entitlement processing for the clients. I have worked on the equities, bond income and CFD processing in Saxo Bank for Mandatory, Voluntary CA and the income transactions.

Financial Services has great scope and a lot of learning as it involves multiple functions and every department has their own knowledge base.

I had been a part of the productivity forum and the Fund Accounting Bangalore cultural committee. As a cultural committee, we have organised multiple events across Fund accounting teams in Bangalore in order to get all the teams closer outside work.

Yes there are. We have a number of Business Resource Councils focusing on areas such as Diversity and Inclusion, Women in Leadership. There are also initiatives like “Pep Talk” to aid work like balance. I try to get involved outside of my day-to-day role when I can. It’s a good way of getting to know different people and building a network.

I make sure that I create a list of activities I need to complete every day and prioritize the work accordingly. Outside of work, I have taken up swimming classes and also joined a soccer team, matches are played every week. I also spend some time cycling and running daily.