It is a privilege to take on the role of President of the National Advisory Council in Ireland, and a pleasure to work with such an enthusiastic, competent and hard-working council and executive.

First on behalf of the Council and CISI Ireland, I’d like to acknowledge the efforts of our former President, Frank O’Riordan. We are indebted to Frank for his leadership and vision over the last four years. The Institute’s presence and profile was greatly enhanced locally over that period. One measure of that success was the level of attendance, engagement and quality at our events.

Our role as a Council and organisation now is to build on that success.

It is a pivotal time for CISI Ireland as the financial services industry focusses more and more on issues of integrity, ethics and culture. The Institute is in pole position to support and shape that drive. CISI has already been active on the ground at individual company and at representative board level in the whole area of culture.

We will maintain the high quality of our events, even as current conditions may require innovative ways of communication. Diversity and inclusion are key themes in the financial services industry, and CISI Ireland will look to play a key role in achieving progress here. Finally I’d like to thank all our members for their continued support and welcome any comments or views to either myself or Deirdre Heffernan.

Eugene

On my own behalf, and our National Advisory Council, I’d like to wish all our members, students and friends a very happy and healthy 2023.

At CISI Ireland, we’re looking forward to another series of successful professional development events. In the first quarter alone, we will be diving into Green Finance, digitalisation and compliance for asset management. We have lots of ideas for the rest of the year , but as always we appreciate, and will respond to, any ideas from our members. Our first event in January will cover the topics of sustainability and ESG in the Fixed Income world – an asset class that is really coming into its own. This will be a face to face session and we would love to see you there!

A lot happened in 2022. It was the Institute’s 30th Anniversary and Ireland was well represented at a Gala dinner in the Guild Hall in London in May. We made history ourselves with out first ever joint event with our colleagues in Northern Ireland, covering how our working environment is likely to change into the future. A heartfelt thanks and appreciation to our CISI colleagues in Northern Ireland.

Our events in 2022, all of which were virtual, were extremely well attended with a high level of interaction. Topics ranged from the outlook for the Irish Property market to Net Zero to Finding value in Bonds amongst many others.

We are really looking forward to holding more events on a face to face basis in 2023 as we recognise that opportunities to network with peers are a key part of what membership offers you.

We held our Awards Night in November celebrating the achievements of many of our student members and were delighted that the Minister for Financial Services, Sean Fleming, was on hand to present the awards. We wish all our students continued success in 2023!

So there’s a lot to look forward to in 2023, not least of which will be Future Foundation – an initiative which will see us financially support improved financial literacy and employability in Financial Services here in Ireland.

Eugene