Accountancy firm Azets hires former Deloitte Africa partner and ex-Central Bank adviser

Accountancy firm Azets Ireland, formerly Baker Tilly Ireland, has hired Deloitte’s former financial services head for Africa and a crisis-era general council at the Central Bank of Ireland as it builds out a financial services team under ambitious growth plans.

Darren Shipp, who previously worked as Deloitte’s financial services leader for Africa from Johannesburg and has three decades experience in the industry, has been appointed as head of financial services for Azets Ireland, focusing on servicing the State’s funds industry.

The level of assets in Irish-domiciled funds stood at €3.87 trillion as of July, according to Irish Funds. There are also trillions of euros of non-domiciled fund assets services out of the Republic.

Corporate lawyer Joe Gavin, who served as Central Bank general counsel between 2010 and 2015 and worked on the liquidation of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), formerly Anglo Irish Bank, and aspects of the State’s international bailout programme, has also joined the fledgling team.

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Most recently, Mr Gavin was chief executive of the Malta Financial Services Authority between June 2021 and the end of last year. He subsequently acted as a consultant to the authority, until June.

The new unit has also taken over Dublin-based compliance consultancy and accountancy firm O’Connor Sheedy & Co, with six staff, including co-founder Yvonne O’Connor. Kate Prendiville, a tax expert with Azets Ireland, has also joined the team, given her previous work on regulated investment vehicles, securitisation and tax planning.

Azets Ireland chief executive Neil Hughes said the firm aims to grow the financial services team from 12 to 20 over the next two years. He said the wider ambition is to quadruple its workforce from 125 currently, across offices in Dublin and Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, over the next three years, including by acquisition.

“It’s clear that the financial services sector will continue to grow in size and importance, particularly as an alternative source of financing for the real economy, and the nature of activities undertaken in the sector will also evolve and expand,” said Mr Hughes.

“Through the creation of our new financial services team here in Ireland and our connection to the global financial centre in London, Azets is well positioned to advise our clients and to take advantage of the growth opportunities that this presents for our firm.”

Azets Ireland has in recent weeks signed a lease on a floor – spanning 17,000 sq ft – of Bank of Ireland’s former headquarters on Mespil Road, as it continues to expand.

London-based Azet’s purchase of Baker Tilly Ireland earlier this year is part of a wave of deal making currently taking place across the industry. Cork accountancy and wealth management firm, Quintas has been acquired his week by UK and Irish group, Xeinadin, for an undisclosed amount. The deal increase Xeinadin’s Irish headcount by almost 20 per cent to 455.

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