She credits her resilience to being the child of a refugee – her mother moved to the UK as a teenager during theAfter university, it was her “passion for exploring the world and just a genuine level of student debt”, she later said, that launched her into a graduate trainee scheme at HSBC’s investment banking division at age 22. She stayed at the bank, often in international roles, for two decades.
“She’s not about to take her foot off the pedal in the next couple of months,” said a figure in banking who knows her well. But the person who knows her well said that was an “outdated view” - although she had “steel in her spine . . . She’s calm in a storm. She has exacting standards”. She also relishes getting stuck into a corporate problem. “She has a huge intellectual curiosity, she enjoys looking at problems from different angles to see how she can find a solution. She takes tough decisions – she gets her sleeves rolled up and her hands dirty,” the person added.Her decision to leave Bank of Ireland has reignited criticism of pay caps at Irish banks.