By Business & Finance 
FBD CEO Fiona Muldoon rings the bell at the Irish Stock Exchange to help launch Guaranteed Irish month. Pictured L-R: Brid O’Connell (CEO, Guaranteed Irish), Fiona Muldoon (CEO, FBD), Ciaran Cannon, TD, Minister for State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deirdre Somers (CEO, Irish Stock Exchange)
Fiona Muldoon, chief executive of FBD Insurance, announced a strong set of results, with profits up strongly and a dividend payment reflecting confidence in the business.
Fiona Muldoon is chief executive of FBD Insurance. In February 2018 FBD announced a strong set of results, with profits up strongly and a dividend payment reflecting confidence in the business.
A sharp rise in profits
FBD announced profits before tax of €49.7m for the year to the end of December 2017, a significant increase on the figure of €11.4m the previous year. The increase follows on from a strategy of strong risk selection and pricing actions begun in 2015 to return the business to profits after three without.
After appointing almost a whole new C-suite team in 2016 – with a new Chief Financial Officer, Chief Commercial Officer, Chief Claims Officer, Chief Technology & Operations Officer and Chief Risk Officer and Company Secretary – and a voluntary redundancy scheme across the company, Muldoon’s streamlined operation has taken off at a gallop.
A strong brand
Muldoon is one of only three female chief executives in an ISE-listed company. She took over as chief executive of FBD in October 2015, taking on the business at a low point with an underwriting loss for that year of €125 million.
Muldoon took over as chief executive of FBD in October 2015 when the business was at a low ebb. It reported a hefty underwriting loss for that year of €125 million.
FBD has over 40 years history in Ireland and over half a million policyholders, many of whom are farmers or connected with the agricultural sector. It was a strong brand going through a weak patch, which, given the competitiveness of the insurance market, and consumer unhappiness about inflating prices, she has wasted no time in making a decisive turnaround.
A regulatory background
Before joining FBD, Muldoon worked with the Central Bank since 2011 as head of banking supervision, taking the banks to task over the issue of mortgage arrears. She told the Irish Times in a 2017 interview, ““I called it as I saw it and that’s what I understood the job of the regulator to be.” She lost out to Cyril Roux for the deputy governor role, and moved on in 2014, of which she said, “I felt that had run its course. I did not want to stay and be either unheard or feel unheard or be unhelpful in any way.” Prior to that she had spent 18 years with global insurance group XL, including seven years in Bermuda.
Business & Finance Business Person of the Month
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