Irish Stock Exchange’s new owners appoint Mary O’Dea for board

The new owners of the Irish Stock Exchange have appointed a former senior central banker, Mary O’Dea, as a non-executive director as its new European owners look to rebuild the company’s board following its takeover earlier this year, according to company filings.

Pan-European bourse operator Euronext, which operates the Paris, Amsterdam, Lisbon and Brussels markets, acquired the company in March for €158.8 million.

The Irish Stock Exchange saw a clear-out earlier this year of previous directors that had represented its former owners, including Davy, Goodbody Stockbrokers, Investec, Cantor Fitzgerald and Campbell O'Connor. The company now trades under the name Euronext Dublin, though the registered group name continues to be the Irish Stock Exchange.

‘Next chapter’

The change of control has also resulted in the exchange's chief executive of more than a decade, Deirdre Somers, signalling in June that she is leaving the company "to begin the next chapter of my business career", to be succeeded by Daryl Byrne, currently chief regulatory officer.

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The exchange's director of traded markets, development and operations, Brian Healy, also handed in his notice as Ms Somers' effective second-in-command in June.

Ms O'Dea, whose board appointment was filed last week, quit the Central Bank late last year to join the Institute of Banking, months after returning to the regulator following stints with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Retirement

Ms O'Dea joined the Central Bank three decades ago and stepped in as acting chief executive for a year following the retirement of Patrick Neary in January 2009, as the banking system was coming under increasing pressure during the financial crisis. She went on to become Ireland's representative at the IMF in Washington in 2011 before stepping in as the country's nominee at the World Bank in 2014 and returning to the Central Bank a year ago.

Euronext appointed a number of its own managers to the Irish Stock Exchange's board in March, including group chief executive Stephane Boujnah.

Filings with the Companies Registration Office also show that former Mark Fitzgerald, a former chief executive officer at Dublin-based Citibank Europe and current chairman of BNY Mellon Trust Company (Ireland), "was appointed to the board after the Euronext takeover" .