Rosheen McGuckian plans to spend this year bringing her financial company's new brand to the attention of Irish consumers, writes Siobhán Creaton, Finance Correspondent.

Rosheen McGuckian is the only female chief executive of an Irish financial services company. So far, the former public relations consultant says she has received little teasing from her friends about becoming a top banker. They are more amused by the fact that she has achieved such status when she can't add, she laughs.

The 38-year-old mother of two young children is settling into the top job at GE Money, the company formerly known as GE Capital Woodchester.

Over the next year she will be leading the campaign to bring the GE Money brand to the attention of Irish consumers and to highlight its range of personal and other loans. It's a challenging role and one that she is clearly enjoying.

GE Money is part of the world's fourth-largest consumer finance company, which in turn is part of the General Electric international conglomerate.

In Ireland, the company grew from an organisation founded by entrepreneur Craig McKinney in 1977, which offered finance for office leasing and expanded into providing car finance.

In 1997, GE purchased the then Woodchester for £570 million (€724 million) and began to impose its renowned business model on its Irish business. Today, the Dublin office is the headquarters for GE's European consumer finance business spanning 21 countries. It has assets of $1 billion (€760 million) and expects this to double by 2007.

It does not disclose details of the profitability of its individual businesses and is coy about discussing its share of the Irish financial products market. It has been a fairly low-key player but that is all about to change.

Ms McGuckian says that many Irish people will have done business with the firm without being aware of it. About 70 per cent of its total lending in Ireland finances new car purchases and is offered at many car showrooms around the State.

More recently, it has moved into offering personal loans and specialist mortgages, which are sold through a number of Irish financial institutions. Customers who take out a personal loan with the EBS building society or One Direct, for instance, are getting their finance from GE Money. The firm also has links with Hibernian and Royal Liver.

In the future it is looking to sell more mortgages. It has a joint venture to provide mortgage finance in conjunction with the listed financial company IFG and is keen to sell mortgages directly to the Irish public.

Ms McGuckian explains that, in this sector, GE Money specialises in giving mortgages to people who can't secure that type of finance from other lenders.

"They could be people who have experienced glitches in the past and may have a history of arrears. They could also be someone who is self employed and who is viewed as being a less attractive proposition by their local bank manager than someone in other employment," she says.

These mortgages are priced according to the risk profile of those individuals and in many cases may come with a high rate of interest.

GE Money is gearing up to expand in the Republic at a time when Irish consumers are distrustful of financial services institutions after a succession of overcharging and other scandals.

"Consumers are increasingly asking what are that shower [ bankers] up to and they are not going to put up with it anymore."

Ms McGuckian says its market research found that 92 per cent of customers want to trust their financial institution. In the past 12 months however, some 36 per cent said they trusted them less than they did.

GE Money is hoping its new brand will offer a refreshing choice for disillusioned customers. The re-branding of the business is part of a global initiative across General Electric's consumer financial services division. Ireland will be the 10th country to adopt the new name and the company will be increasingly introducing new products into the Irish market that have proven popular in other countries.

Ms McGuckian has 500 staff at GE Money and it is largely a young workforce. She is happy to be leading the transformation to a more consumer-oriented business. Her skills in communications and change management, she believes, are the key reason why she won the job.

"I never had any expectation that two years after joining this company I would be its chief executive," Ms McGuckian says.

She had started out thinking that she wanted to be a speech therapist and studied this at Trinity College Dublin. By the end of the course, she knew this wasn't the right career choice for her. She later studied communications and marketing and found herself working in public relations. She spent 10 years at Drury Communications.

After taking a little time out, she moved in a different direction and took a senior management role at the ESB's power generation division, which was preparing to cope with the liberalisation of the energy market.

"It was a great opportunity to get your teeth into an organisation going through a major change when the market was opening up. It was the best thing I have ever done," she says.

In 2002 she received a phone call inviting her to consider joining GE's European consumer finance operations to head up its communications activities. Over the next two years she was involved in many of the acquisitions across Europe and says the suggestion to apply for the top job came in the form of "a tap on the shoulder".

Luckily, she says the promotion has improved her lifestyle. It has curtailed the amount of international travel and given her more control over how she manages her job and her family. It's all about time management, she says.

Providing flexibility and support for family commitments for men and women is an essential part of the organisations success, she says. "You have to do what you can to hold onto talent. You will find that people will work twice as hard then to make these arrangements work."

To save time in the mornings she commutes to work by motorbike. She has already abolished very early morning meetings.

"We used to have meetings at 8 and 8.30 but since I took over I said that wouldn't be happening because I have young children and would not be there before 8.45," Ms McGuckian says.

"There is great flexibility in the job. I regularly work from home and I can make sure I get home to put the children to bed."

The firm is very focused on bringing female talent through the organisation, she says, and has a women's network.

"I regularly get wheeled out to show people that it is possible to be a mum and to do a job like this. I simply explain that I can't do everything so I don't. I basically plan each day. I make sure the children are part of that day and take it from there," she explains.