FundRock Hires Louise Harris as Head of Legal & Compliance for its Irish Branch

FundRock Management Company S.A. (“FundRock”) has appointed Irish funds lawyer Louise Harris to head up the Legal and Compliance function at its Irish branch.  FundRock, one of the largest independent UCITS and AIF investment management companies in Europe, has made the appointment as part of its long term strategy to become a leading provider of investment management services to Irish domiciled funds.

Louise, a qualified barrister, moved from private practice into the financial services sector ten years ago. Since then Louise has held senior legal and compliance positions in regulated investment firms, including 8 years as the Head of Legal and Compliance and then General Counsel of Abbey Capital Limited, an Irish multi-billion dollar alternative investment management company, with operations in the EU, the US, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.  Louise’s expertise spans across all aspects of fund law and regulation, including product structuring, trading, corporate governance, regulatory reporting and marketing and distribution.

With expertise in Irish and international fund law and regulation, Louise’s appointment will add local Irish legal and regulatory expertise to FundRock’s existing professional team, supporting FundRock’s clients in navigating the landscape of legal and regulatory obligations for Irish domiciled funds and their directors.

Ross Thomson, Director of the Irish branch commented: “FundRock has been servicing Irish funds since 2012 and we continue to invest in our people and our knowledge in this market. Louise’s appointment further complements our experienced team and highlights our commitment to Irish market. Louise’s expertise will help us realise our objective to offer our global clients a value added solution for all their investment management needs in Ireland and across our other European locations.”

Speaking about the Irish funds market, Louise commented: “Funds domiciled in Ireland are required to be managed and governed to the highest of standards. FundRock, with its long heritage in fund governance developed over 80 years, is very well positioned in this regard. Its robust platforms were developed with an investment banking expertise and its governance systems continue to be developed with award winning innovative RegTech.”

Louise added:  “The Central Bank recently clarified the management and governance requirements for Irish funds and their directors in its consultation paper CP86.  As a result, we are seeing more and more funds appointing management companies or designated persons to ensure proper fund management and governance.  Seeing the positive steps that FundRock were taking in order to create innovative and robust solutions for their clients around new regulations in Ireland, UK and Luxembourg, was a major reason for joining the FundRock team .”

Louise graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a Master of Law degree in 2000 and was called to the Bar of Ireland in 2002.