By Business & Finance 
Pictured: Ian Nelson, Head of Financial Services, KPMG Ireland and Louise Phelan, Chair of the judging panel.
Entries for this year’s FS Awards, in association with KPMG, open today, 26 June. This year’s event will take place on October 24th in the Round Room of the Mansion House.
The FS Awards was established in 2020 to recognise the companies, teams and individuals who lead, innovate and shape their organisations through a commitment to excellence that has cemented Dublin’s reputation as a global financial services hub.
The judging panel will be assessing entries across a number of different criteria, specific to each category, with strategy, innovation, impact and a customer-centric approach keystone across all categories.
Louise Phelan, Chair of the judging panel, said: “Recognising excellence and innovation in the financial services sector, this event showcases the leaders and organisations shaping Dublin’s role as a financial gateway to Europe.”
Ian Nelson, Partner and Head of Financial Services & Regulatory at KPMG in Ireland said: “The financial services sector is crucial to our economy, and KPMG is delighted to once again support the recognition of organisations, teams and individuals who have significantly boosted Ireland’s reputation as one of the top financial services centres globally.
“These awards give the business community a fantastic opportunity to recognise industry-leading initiatives in the fields of banking, open-banking, payments, insurance, asset management and the rapidly changing fintech industry. We also plan to honour remarkable accomplishments in sustainability, diversity and inclusion, topics that are significant to KPMG and essential to driving the sector.”
2023 Awards
The 2023 FS Awards took place on 26th October in the Round Room. The Pádraig Ó hUiginn Outstanding Contribution to Financial Services Award, sponsored by KPMG, was presented to Catherine Day, former Secretary General of the European Commission.
Former Taoiseach Enda Kenny presented her with the award. He praised Day for her work as Secretary General of the European Commission under José Manuel Barroso: “She was at all of those meetings,” he said, “and she was the embodiment of professionalism, of courtesy, of experience, of understanding, of the taking of notes of very diverse issues from different Prime Ministers in a way that were authentic and accurate […] She was absolutely superb.”
Day was invited to accept the award. She said she was “very honoured” to receive it “because, even in Brussels, civil servants don’t generally seek the limelight.”
“In fact,” she says, “we’re always looking for the cameras to make sure we’re out of shot, not in shot. So it’s particularly lovely to be recognised here today.”
She continued: “I’m really delighted that members of the Ó hUiginn family are here because if ever I get a chance to set up a fantasy dinner party, I would like to sit beside Pádraig Ó hUiginn and just have a heart-to-heart with him about the ups and downs of being the Secretary General.”
The award is named for Senior Civil servant, Padraig Ó hUiginn, who had a fifty-year career in the Civil Service before retiring in 1993.
He entered the civil service in 1941 and served for over fifty years where he was innovative in his endeavours to progress social and economical change and to capture and utilise opportunities for the benefit of all. His name is synonymous with the creation and driving high profile initiatives such as the IFSC, Temple Bar, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), but he is perhaps best remembered for his role as Secretary General of the Department of The Taoiseach, a position he held from 1982-1993.
A full list of last year’s winners is available to view here.
2024 Categories
Specialist Lender Award
Customer Experience Award
Innovative Banking Product Award
Fintech Innovation Award
Fintech Team of the Year
FS Trust Award
Insurance Team of the Year
Payments Innovation Award
Compliance & Reg Tech Award
International Finance Award
Fund Management Company of the Year
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award
FS Challenger Award
Sustainable Finance Award
Employee Experience Award
Sustainable Investment Award
Aviation Finance Award
Transformation in Finance Award
For partnership opportunities please contact Brian Kearns at brian.kearns@businessandfinance.com. Visit here for further information on nominations.
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Winners of the 2023 Business & Finance FS Awards, in association with KPMG, announced
Excellence, Innovation and Trust to be celebrated at 2023 FS Awards
