Philip Lane to be honoured at Business & Finance Financial Services Awards 2025, in association with KPMG

This year, Philip Lane is to receive the Pádraig Ó hUiginn Award at the 2025 Business & Finance FS Awards, in association with KPMG. Entries to the Financial Services Awards are open until 30 June. The award presentations will take place on 23 October in the Round Room of the Mansion House, Dublin.

By Héloïse Chaudot

Philip Lane

This year, Philip Lane will be honoured with the Pádraig Ó hUiginn Award at the FS Awards. The Padraig Ó hUiginn Award recognises an individual’s outstanding contribution to Financial Services, named after the late former Secretary General at the Department of the Taoiseach, who was a driving force in the creation of the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). 

Philip Lane has been a Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) since 2019. He is responsible for the Directorate General for Economics and the Directorate General for Monetary Policy.

Before joining the ECB, Lane was the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland from 2015 to 2019. Additionally, he chaired both the Advisory Scientific Committee (ASC) in 2015, and the Advisory Technical Committee (ATC) of the European Systemic Risk Board from 2017 to 2019.

He is also Whately Professor of Political Economy and Director of the Institute for International Integration Studies at Trinity College Dublin. Furthermore, he was the Director of the International Macroeconomics and Finance Programme at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). 

Philip Lane graduated from Trinity College Dublin before receiving a PhD in Economics from Harvard University in 1995. He was Assistant Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Columbia University from 1995 to 1997, before returning to Dublin. 

In 2001, he was honoured as the first recipient of the Bernácer Prize for outstanding contributions to European monetary economics. In 2010, he was co-recipient of the Bhagwati Prize from the Journal of International Economics.

Pádraig Ó hUiginn

Senior Civil Servant, Padraig Ó hUiginn, had a fifty-year career in the Civil Service before retiring in 1993.

He began his public service journey in 1941, dedicating over five decades to driving innovation and meaningful progress in social and economic policy. Ó hUiginn was known for seizing opportunities that advanced the common good, leaving a lasting impact through landmark initiatives such as the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), Temple Bar, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA).

He is perhaps best remembered for his tenure as Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach, a role he held from 1982 to 1993. His leadership during that period was marked by strategic vision and a commitment to transformative national projects.

Beyond his role at the Taoiseach’s department, Ó hUiginn also served on the international stage. He was an Economic Affairs Officer with the UN Economic Commission in Geneva, Officer-in-Charge of Housing, Planning and Building at UN Headquarters in New York, and later Director for Regional Policy and Deputy Director General for Energy, Science and Technology at the European Council of Ministers in Brussels.

Following his retirement from the civil service, Ó hUiginn continued to find success in the private sector. Most notably, he served as a director of Denis O’Brien’s Esat Telecom, which was eventually acquired by British Telecom in 2000.

Pádraig Ó hUiginn passed away in 2019 at the age of 94.

FS Awards Categories

This year, there are three new categories including an AI & Data Analytics Excellence Award; an Aircraft Leasing Company Award and a Private Equity Firm Excellence Award.

The Financial Services Awards entries are now open until June 30th. If you wish to enter the nominations, please see the FS Awards.

For partnership opportunities, please contact Brian Kearns at brian.kearns@businessandfinance.com. Visit here for further information on nominations.