ICQ Log - Member Profiles:

Interview with Ciarán Shields

Last Updated: 10 September 2021

In this issue, we would like to introduce Ciarán Shields, who is Associate Director Risk (EMEA)/PCF14 for Sanne Group Administration Services Ireland Ltd.

What did you want to do when you left school?

Honestly, I didn’t know, I wanted to be a journalist because I loved English and storytelling, but I never pursued it as a profession.

I worked in a lot of areas of finance before ending up in Compliance, little did I know that this journey would benefit me greatly as a compliance professional giving me a greater understanding of 1LOD challenges.

How did you enter the world of compliance?

I think working through the economic crisis and seeing first-hand some of the decisions that were made at the time, led me towards Compliance and to act as a custodian for the customer, company, staff, shareholder, and brand.

What did you want to do when you left school?

Honestly, I didn’t know, I wanted to be a journalist because I loved English and storytelling, but I never pursued it as a profession.

I worked in a lot of areas of finance before ending up in Compliance, little did I know that this journey would benefit me greatly as a compliance professional giving me a greater understanding of 1LOD challenges.

How did you enter the world of compliance?

I think working through the economic crisis and seeing first-hand some of the decisions that were made at the time, led me towards Compliance and to act as a custodian for the customer, company, staff, shareholder, and brand.

What do you consider are the challenges ahead for your industry?

There are so many challenges on the horizon but resilience, continuity, cyber and information security events in remote / hybrid working environments are sure to increase our risk exposure.

Also, people risk, not only finding talented motivated people but being In this issue, we would like to introduce Ciarán Shields, who is Associate Director Risk (EMEA)/PCF14 for Sanne Group Administration Services Ireland Ltd. able to retain staff. As some firms are now moving towards A.I. solutions, modelling and machine learning, this will lessen the need for human intervention in certain processes and could see a reduction in staff as tech solutions become the norm.

How would you describe your management style?

I hope that I have an open, collaborative and knowledge sharing style. I take people management seriously and am very proud of contributing to people’s development. It is important to me that people enjoy what they do but keep learning and I try to give staff the opportunities to shine.

What’s the most valuable advice that you have been given?

How we do business, is as important as the business we do. It rings in my ears every day.

An accomplishment you are most proud of?

I have many proud moments, but I would probably say my academic achievements while working, especially during the last year. I keep surprising myself and am still motivated to keep moving forward.

How do you relax and unwind?

I love to cook, I love to walk and listen to music, bring the cat for a walk or in days gone past, go to watch live matches or watch live entertainment.

What is your favourite place in Ireland?

I love the entire country, but Galway is a place where I feel at real peace. Its probably more to do with the people.

An interesting fact about you?

I co-founded a not-for-profit charity with some friends when I was younger to raise funds for Crumlin Children’s Hospital and one of our events included a rubber duck race down the River Liffey, at the time we were trying to achieve the Guinness world record and had 140K ducks in the race. It’s a fond memory and we raised a lot of money for a good cause.

Member: 

Ciarán Shields

Associate Director Risk - EMEA (PCF14)

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ICQ Summer Edition 2021

This article was taken from the ACOI's ICQ Summer Edition 2021