My name is Callum Fahey and I am a graduate from the National University of Ireland, Galway. I spent nearly five years in Galway, completing my Commerce Degree followed by a Masters in International Finance.
I moved to Dublin last November and started my career in Financial Services with Grant Thornton. I joined the Business Risk Services team within the Financial Services Advisory (FSA) department. I had no idea what to expect, as I had not worked in the industry before. The first two weeks of induction was on Microsoft Teams as COVID cases were beginning to rise again but this did not affect the high level of training from both internal and external sessions.
My first project was a three-month long Internal Audit project with one of the largest asset management companies globally. This project proved to me that Grant Thornton was the place to be as the team made me feel so welcome and the training sessions that GT provided in the first week of the project were excellent. We had daily morning calls to allocate work that the client sent throughout the night as we were working with clients that had offices in Mumbai, India and Kansas City in the U.S. Within the project, I also got exposure to some of the largest investment banks in the world
One aspect about working within the FSA department is the variety of work and projects that you are exposed to. The above mentioned Internal Audit project was in the Asset Management team, whereas my second project involved Financial Crime (Anti-Money Laundering) in the Business Risk Services team. I joined the project team with approximately twenty other Grant Thornton team member, this secondment involved working at the client’s offices, which was something I certainly benefitted from. The engagement dealt with a large KYC Remediation project for Global Asset Managers based in Luxembourg. This included performing PEP and Financial Sanctions screening checks for new and existing customers; risk assessments and completing periodic reviews of individuals, Corporate Entities, Regulated Entities, Pension schemes and complex Trusts and Funds. Having worked in this team for 6-months, I am now studying for the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist exam.
Recently, I have joined the Restructuring & Recovery team for six-months as part of the inaugural rotation programme within FSA. I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to assess where my skills and experience can be utilised across the department.
There is an enjoyable and thriving social aspect to working within Grant Thornton, this is something I particularly enjoy as it is a great opportunity to network with my colleagues. Social events after work occur regularly and I participate as much as I can. Grant Thornton have created an extremely friendly environment in and out of the office, which assists new starters especially. Even though COVID ruined the planned Christmas party last December, it was rearranged for March so we did not miss out!! I look forward to continuing my career with Grant Thornton and progressing in my role in the near future.