Aquest Podcast

Dive into the latest episode of The Aquest Podcast, Autumn-Winter 2025 Season, Episode 2: "Love Languages of a Financial Regulator"! 🎙️ Join co-hosts Daniel Lawlor and Dáire Lawlor as they adopt their "agony aunt personas" to tackle frequently asked questions about engaging with financial regulators. This episode explores effective strategies for firms to build relationships of mutual trust and benefit with regulators, offering invaluable insights and practical tips. Key takeaways from this episode include: •Understanding how to foster effective communication and trust with financial regulators. •Practical advice on organising engagements to ensure they are as effective as possible. •Essential tips for firms seeking authorisation, emphasising clarity, honesty, and thorough preparation. Whether you're navigating regulatory complexities or seeking to optimize your firm's interactions, this episode provides a unique perspective on achieving a harmonious relationship with your financial regulator. Don't miss out on expert guidance that can help you avoid common pitfalls and enhance your regulatory engagements. Listen now and gain a deeper understanding of the "love languages" that resonate with financial regulators!

The Aquest Podcast is back for a new season! We are excited to launch the first episode of our Autumn/Winter 2025 season, titled "I'm a Funds Lawyer... Get Me Out of Here!" This season, we're introducing a new format. Join hosts Danny Lawlor and Dáire Lawlor as they take on the role of industry "agony aunts," tackling the pressing questions and challenges faced by professionals in the funds industry. In this episode, we explore: · How to start and build a successful career in the funds industry. · Navigating career progression and the convergence of tech and finance. · Practical advice on managing stress and avoiding burnout. Whether you're just starting or are a seasoned professional, this conversation offers valuable insights and honest perspectives on life in the funds industry. Listen to the full episode on your favourite podcast platform. TheAquestPodcast #FundsIndustry #CareerAdvice #FinancialServices #Podcast #NewEpisode #GetMeOutOfHere

I'm joined by Bernadette Nulty, VP International Financial Services at IDA Ireland, for this episode of The Aquest Podcast. I was interested to learn about the types of financial services firms which are exploring the possibility of establish a presence in Ireland at the moment and the trends that IDA Ireland is seeing. I also wanted to understand the key factors that cause firms to choose Ireland and the ways in which IDA Ireland can support these firms on their journey. Bernadette and I discuss the continued support that IDA Ireland provides to inward-investing firms that set-up in Ireland and the areas of focus that are attracting their attention as they seek to grow and thrive here. Needless to say, AI, R&D and training are high on the list! Many thanks to Bernadette for sharing her knowledge and insight. Enjoy!

The topic for this episode of The Aquest Podcast is a little more out of left field – I’m joined by Shannon Eastman to chat about ‘Nervous System Intelligence’. This is a new concept that explores and tries to explain the impact of long-term exposure to stress on the body and mind and our conversation focuses particularly on busy professionals and their work environment. Nervous System Intelligence also identifies techniques to repair harm and help with much improved health and performance. Shannon is fluent in both corporate growth and nervous system intelligence—blending business strategy, human behavior, and neurobiology. She’s spent a lifetime exploring: why do we do what we do, why is change so hard for some of us, easy for others, and what does it take to make it last? Founder of The Nervous System Economy™, she partners with a multidisciplinary team to translate science into plain English—specifically for business. She educates, advises, and works directly with leaders to map nervous system intelligence to commercial outcomes. Shannon hosts Who Turned The Lights On?, a podcast that hit 100K downloads in its first year, helping high-performing professionals lead, relate, and recover differently. And before her ventures into all things nervous system intelligence, Shannon worked in the financial services industry working with and for the funds industry, fintechs, crypto crime and digital assets.  NervousSystemEconomy.com > www.nervoussystemeconomy.com/resources  LinkedIn > https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannoneastman/ Podcast > whoturnedthelightson.com  Personal Website - shannoneastman.com

In Episode 3, I’m joined by Andrew Tzialli of Philip Lee LLP as we catch up on implementation of the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCAR) 6 months away from it coming fully into force.  We discuss the levels of activity being seen and the potential for Ireland to position itself as the jurisdiction of choice for MiCA firms.  We also chat about other developments in the digital assets/digitalisation space, with tokenisation of funds getting some attention.   Enjoy!

In Episode 2, I’m joined by Declan Casey and Lauren Andersen of Irish Funds to chat about the EU Savings & Investments Union.  We discuss the SIU’s predecessor, the Capital Markets Union, and consider what’s different this time around.  We also chat about the EU Commission’s Targeted Consultation on Integration of EU Capital Markets which closes on 10 June 2025 with the Irish Funds team working on a consultation response as we speak.  Enjoy! Link to the Commission’s consultation: https://finance.ec.europa.eu/regulation-and-supervision/consultations-0/targeted-consultation-integration-eu-capital-markets-2025_en

Welcome to the first episode of the Spring / Summer 2025 season of The Aquest Podcast. To kick things off, I’m joined by Sam Glynn who is a Security and Regulatory Compliance Advisor to Regulated Firms and Professional Services Providers. Our conversation begins with a catch up on DORA implementation and how the experience has been for regulated firms. We then discuss the potential cyber risks which third party service providers pose for regulated firms and how they go about managing and mitigating these. Our discussion concludes with a view from the service provider’s perspective and how they can go about demonstrating their cyber security and resilience through, for example, ISO 27001 certification. Enjoy.

For the last episode of the winter 2024 season, I’m delighted to be joined by Jennifer Geary.  Jennifer hosts a new podcast called The C-Suite Framework and is author of a number of books including How to be a Chief Operating Officer.  Although critically important, the COO role is not much discussed, and the precise scope is often ill-defined.  So, I was interested to chat with Jennifer about what it covers and what it doesn't, the habits of people who perform the COO role well and what tends to happen when things go wrong.  We also discuss why CCO can be a thankless role that only gets attention when things don’t work as they should. Many thanks to Jennifer for coming on the podcast and I hope you enjoy.

In May 2024, the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) published its report on Skills for International Financial Services - An Assessment of Future Skills Requirements in High Potential Sub-sectors of Ireland’s International Financial Services Sector to 2027. This report identifies the availability of training and education relevant to the financial services industry. It assesses where gaps might arise in terms of new skills and numbers of skilled individuals up to 2027. It also sets out a number of recommendations to ensure that the potential training and skills needs identified can be addressed effectively. Who better to chat to about this report than Martina Kelly, who chaired expert Steering Group that directed the production and publication of the report. Martina is Director Funds at the IOB (Institute of Bankers) and acts as an independent director to several Irish regulated financial services providers. We discuss the background to the report, its aims and findings. We also discuss the recommendations produced and the plans for ensuring that they are implemented. Plenty to discuss then – enjoy!

For this episode of The Aquest Podcast, I’m delighted to be joined by Clive Bellows.  Clive is President for EMEA for Northern Trust and, more importantly (for the purposes of this episode at least!), the former Chairperson of basis.point.  basis.point is the Irish funds industry charity which funds programmes to improve outcomes for children experiencing disadvantage, with a particular focus on access to education.  We chat about Clive’s professional journey and how he came to be Chairperson of basis.point.  We also chat about some of the initiatives which basis.point helps to support and how people can get involved.  Enjoy!

As the 180-day transition period for EMIR REFIT drew to a close, I was joined by Aoife Storey and Michelle Kehoe of Fund Recs to reflect on how well (or otherwise!) the implementation of EMIR Refit has gone. We chatted about whether the anticipated challenges arose in practice and what unexpected speedbumps came along. We discussed where firms are at generally, in terms of complying with the new reporting and oversight requirements. We also cast the net a bit more broadly and considered similar changes to other EMIR regimes internationally. Enjoy!

This is a director’s chair episode of The Aquest Podcast and my guest is Eoin Motherway. Eoin is an experienced INED across a range of Irish regulated financial services firms and brings that wider perspective to our conversation. We chat about the current INED landscape and it is not long before our conversation turns to matters tech and digital-related. We discuss the state of readiness for DORA (which takes effect in Jan 2025); MiCAR and the challenges facing both industry and the financial regulator when it comes to issuing CASP licences by the end of 2025; and the tokenization of funds and what that might mean for the Irish funds industry. Lots of ground covered and plenty of interesting insights along the way. Enjoy!

Chat about Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere in the financial services world at the moment so I thought it would be useful to try to demystify AI and to explain some of the practical use cases for it.  To do that, I’m joined by Brian Walsh, CEO of Reitigh.  Brian explains why the FS industry has been an early adopter of this emerging technology and why it is not simply a fad.  We chat about how firms might best go about introducing AI assistance to their business and why this doesn’t need to cost the earth.  We also chat about AI bias and AI hallucination and the challenge of balancing innovation with regulation. And most importantly, Brian tackles the most asked AI question – is AI going to take my job?  Find out the answer in this episode of The Aquest Podcast!

How FS and professional services firms develop an effective business strategy is the topic for this episode of The Aquest Podcast.  My guest is Annette Mahon who is a commercial strategy and business development consultant working exclusively with service providers and financial/fund services businesses. We chat about Annette’s journey into the funds industry and her observations as someone coming fresh to the industry.  We discuss how FS firms go about devising and deploying a business strategy to win and retain customers, keep existing staff happy and entice new employees.  Annette shares insights on what the best firms do well and how others can catch up.  We also chat about what business strategy means for an Irish FS business that is part of an international firm – and how to plan the ideal agenda for a visit from HQ’s CEO! Many thanks to Annette for her thoughts and advice.  Enjoy!

On this episode of the Aquest Podcast I’m joined by Adrian Mulryan, CEO of Invesco Investment Management to talk about ETFs (mostly!). We begin by reflecting on the predictions made by Adrian the last time he came on the podcast in 2018.  His predictions were pretty accurate, to be fair, and he wasn’t shy about reminding me either. We go on to chat about the continued growth of ETFs, both in terms of assets under management and product range.  We take quite an in-depth look at ESG ETFs and how investors are driving strong inflows here.  We also chat about product innovations, active ETFs and speculate on the tokenization of ETFs.  Let’s see how accurate these predictions prove to be in 2029!  Enjoy

It’s time to get techie on the Aquest Podcast and who better to guide us through the intersection of technology and financial services than Dáire Lawlor, MD at tech advisory firm Interwoven.   We chart the growing use and integration of technology in financial services firms from the early 2000s (when tech integration was patchy at best) through the global financial crisis in 2008 (which brought a deluge of new reporting and compliance obligations) and up to DORA (the Digital Operational Resilience Act) which comes into effect on 17 Jan 2025. It’s a lot of ground to cover but it does help explain how we’ve arrived at DORA and what DORA is intended to achieve.  We also chat about the types of challenges firms are facing when implementing DORA - particularly from a critical third-party service provider perspective. We conclude by considering the board’s role in governance and oversight of the use of ICT and the associated risks.  Many thanks to Daire for sharing his insights on this episode.  Enjoy!

In this ‘Director’s Chair’ episode of the Aquest Podcast I’m joined by Syl O’Byrne who has many years’ experience as a financial services lawyer, both in private practice and industry. We begin by chatting about Syl’s pathway to becoming an INED and his observations on the current funds landscape generally. We also chat about the impact of the Individual Accountability Framework from a director’s perspective and the balance between collective responsibility and individual accountability.  We discuss the regulatory burden and barriers to entry and speculate about getting the cost/benefit balance right.  We wrap up by discussing some of the specific topics on a director’s radar such as SFDR, DORA, valuations, outsourcing and governance. So it’s fair to say that there is plenty to occupy the minds of our INED community.  Enjoy!

With the new EMIR REFIT (the revamp of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation) reporting requirements kicking-off on 29 April 2024, I’m joined by 2x EMIR REFIT experts to chat about what changes are being introduced and how firms are coping with implementation. Aoife Storey (Client Solutions Manager) and Gerard Gilsenan (Chief Revenue Office) of Fund Recs join me and share their insights and expertise on the challenges with implementing EMIR REFIT, emerging market practices and governance frameworks.  We also chat about the importance of good quality data from a regulator’s perspective and how tech solutions can help firms manage oversight of enormous amounts of reported data.  And we also have Aoife’s top tips for firms who are not there yet!  Enjoy

In this episode of the Aquest Podcast I catch up with Ann Shiels, sustainability expert with Finlexsus. Ann appeared on the show in May 2022 and I was interested to get her take on developments in market practices and regulations on ESG in the interim. We chat about SFDR 1.5/2.0, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, the regulation of ESG rating agencies and the current Common Supervisory Action on SFDR compliance. We also discuss whether some of the steam has gone out of the ESG movement and whether the pending revision of SFDR is causing investor confusion leading to ESG fund outflows. So, in a nutshell, there has been plenty of activity in the ESG space since Ann last appeared on the Aquest Podcast in 2022!!

Impact of T+1 Settlement As firms in the US prepare for the momentous move to T+1 settlement in May 2024, I chat with Adrian Whelan, regulatory expert, about how this change will have a broad impact outside the US. With knowledge/appreciation of what's coming pretty patchy at best, we discuss the implications for firms on everything from fx to securities lending. We also chat about the steps that firms should be taking now to ensure that they are ready for T+1. We even contemplate T+0 and whether this is feasible and desirable in practice. Enjoy!