‘Pretty much every conversation with a client now has an ESG element’

Eve Finn returned to Ireland in 2017 managing LGIM’s Brexit strategy and to lead the newly established LGIM (Managers) Europe. “The company allows us to manage our European-domiciled funds from Ireland,” she explains. “We have our headquarters in Dublin and we have four other offices across Europe. I am also the country head for Ireland and look after all our teams here.”

As CEO, she is responsible for running the company and making sure it meets the strategic objectives set for it by its parent company. “Europe is a strategic focus for LGIM and we are committed to offering leading investment solutions to all our clients across the region,” she points out. “One of our core pillars is internationalisation. We have built up strong relationships in the institutional space in Europe and we are growing in the retail and wholesale space as well.”

The company offers a variety of different fund structures to Irish and European investors. These include exchange traded funds, money market funds, Irish collective asset management vehicle funds, and common contractual funds.

“We have a very broad range of solutions, and we also work with pension scheme managers. We also provide investment solutions to a number of defined contribution schemes and pension providers. And we are a long-standing risk management provider to defined benefit schemes.”

She points out that LGIM has had funds in Ireland for well more than a decade, but Brexit prompted a change in strategy for the company. “When Brexit happened, we looked at our model and our internationalisation ambitions,” she explains. “It made sense to set up a management company in Ireland. It would help to manage the Brexit journey and hopefully provide a platform for future growth.”

She had worked in LGIM since 2009 where, among other roles, she had been head of portfolio construction with the liability driven investment team in London. “I moved back here in 2017 after maternity leave to manage Brexit planning for LGIM as a whole and to set up the Dublin operation. The stars aligned nicely for that. I took on both roles at the same time. It was a wonderful opportunity to set up a company from scratch and build all the processes. It was a start-up in nature, but we had the backing of a global investment manager. The company saw the opportunity that existed for growth in Europe.”

‘A fascinating journey’

Growth has been quite rapid since. “We had two salespeople in Dublin at the time and we’ve grown the team to 40 since. They work in a broad range of areas including risk, compliance, legal, client reporting and so on. We also have a team of eight investment specialists here who look after investment oversight.”

A graduate in financial and actuarial mathematics from DCU, Finn began her career with Towers Watson before moving on to Deutsche Bank and then LGIM. "It's been a fascinating journey. I've been involved with investment, the client side, governance, the regulatory side, everything while at LGIM – all parts of the puzzle."

Diversity is a core value for LGIM. “We have a really diverse team here,” she points out. “We have eight nationalities working here. People have moved from different countries to work with us. We have people from India, South Africa, Italy, the UK, and elsewhere. We have 50:50 gender balance here. We try to encourage girls and women thinking about doing Steam subjects not just to consider careers in tech but to look at financial services and funds as well. We’ve come a long way in relation to diversity and inclusion in Ireland and we are seeing a good balance in the sector now. We have some phenomenal female leaders who are great role models for others.”

Sustainability is another area of importance. In the company’s latest annual Climate Impact Pledge report in 2021, it revealed that it would divest from four companies due to insufficient action to address the risks posed by climate change.

“Sustainability has been core for us for a long time,” she adds. “We have had a lot of climate-focused strategies for a long time, and we produce sustainability reports on our activities. We are actively trying to seek change. Pretty much every conversation with a client now has an ESG element to it.”