FDI of the Month August 2018: State Street ushers in a new era as Susan Dargan steps down

As Susan Dargan ends her tenure at the head of State Street in Ireland, she leaves behind a company in very good shape. Since entering the Irish market in 1996, the Boston-headquarted financial services firm has gone on to become one of the biggest international financial services employers in Ireland.

Globally State Street handles 10 per cent of the securities that are traded on daily basis. State Street offers local investors a range of financial services, including investment servicing, investment research and trading, and investment management.

With 37,000 staff globally, the EMEA region accounts for 10,000 of those and in Ireland State Street’s operations have more than 2,500 staff between offices in Dublin, Drogheda, Kilkenny and Naas. The Irish operations mainly specialise in back-office services for funds and it is the largest provider of fund administration services across both Irish-domiciled and non-domiciled funds, and Ireland’s number one custodian according to the Monterey Insight Ireland Fund Report  in June 2017.

Global advisors

In 2010, the US group acquired Bank of Ireland Asset Management for €57 million and folded the business into State Street Global Advisers (SSGA). Dublin counts as one of SSGA’s nine investment centres, with this part of the business led by Ann Prendergast.

At the end of June, State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) managed fixed income assets totalling $441bn (€378.2bn). Over the past few years it has seen considerable growth in emerging market debt (EMD) assets.

SSGA’s range of EMD solutions include separately managed accounts, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. In 2017 it launched two Irish collective asset management vehicles, one for hard currency EMD and the other for local currency.

Pictured, L-R: Susan Dargan, then-An Taoiseach Enda Kenny and State Street CEO Jay Hooley marked the 20th year of business for State Street in Ireland in 1996.

All change

Outgoing country head, executive vice president and co-head of State Street Global Services in EMEA, Susan Dargan took over the day-to-day control of State Street’s Irish operations from long-serving Willie Slattery in 2012 before also assuming a wider role including control of Luxembourg offshore operations in 2015.

State Street has named Tadhg Young, who has been with the company for over a decade, as its next country head for Ireland.

Young will report to Mike Fontaine, who is relocating to Dublin from group headquarters in Boston to fulfil Dargan’s additional role as co-head of global services for the EMEA region.

Jörg Ambrosius and Mike Fontaine have been promoted to co-heads of global services for EMEA at State Street.

The two men step into the posts vacated by Susan Dargan and Liz Nolan, who has taken up the role of EMEA chief executive.

Tadhg Young is the head of Global Services Ireland and is also responsible for State Street’s traditional fund servicing business in the Channel Islands. Previously, he had been the chief operating officer of State Street International (Ireland) Limited since 2012. Prior to joining State Street in 2007, Tadhg was also the head of Trustee, Custody and Middle Office Servicing with IBT Ireland.

In his new role, Young will oversee and manage the alignment and co-operation between State Street’s six offices in Ireland, as well as communicating and collaborating with regulators within the industry.

Young will also retain overall responsibility for global services in the Channel Islands.

Commenting on the move, a State Street spokesperson said: “Tadhg Young’s deep knowledge of the local market and proven leadership equip him well for his expanded responsibilities.”