Team size: About 20

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Founded in 2004, Carne Group is an international company that has established itself as an expert and pioneer in fund regulation and governance solutions, allowing it to become Europe’s leading third-party management company and trusted partner to the fund management industry. Carne works with more than 650 clients – from boutique fund managers to global institutional investors – supporting funds distributed in over 160 countries and overseeing more than $2 trillion assets under management. Carne employs more than 700 employees worldwide

The legal team has been at the forefront of bringing pioneering new fund products to the market. For example, Carne Group has partnered with asset manager DWS, stewardship provider Minerva Analytics, and index provider Solactive, to offer institutional investors the opportunity to express their voting preferences within a pooled fund. The fund is seeded by Smart Pension, a leading UK DC Master Trust, with £550m of investment. Voting is split within a pooled fund in proportion to each investor’s holding, offering institutional investors stronger investment stewardship and active ownership.

This is the first Carne fund with the new split voting technology from Minerva Analytics which aims to track a low carbon global equity index, offering investors diversified equity exposure aligned with the long-term targets of the Paris Climate Agreement. The fund forms part of the tax transparent AMX UCITS Common Contractual Fund (CCF), which provides a robust fund infrastructure offering institutional investors cost and tax efficient pooled investments.

As a general counsel, how do you anticipate and prepare for potential legal and regulatory challenges that may arise, particularly in light of emerging technologies and evolving business landscapes?

At Carne group we are lucky to have a dynamic and solutions orientated team of industry experts and veterans. Multidisciplinary teams are in place to pre-empt challenges which may arise from changes in legal and regulatory landscapes. Our deep industry knowledge enables us to consider challenges from a board spectrum of perspectives, always with our clients’ interests in mind.

At Carne group, our industry experts, including representatives from the legal team, sit on a large number of Irish Funds industry working groups. For example, I am a member of the Irish Funds ELTIF group, which has been at the forefront of delivering the new Irish ELTIF fund product to market.

How have you attempted to bring the legal department closer to your business colleagues?

The integration of the legal team into the wider business is a key priority for the legal team. To this end, we have implemented a program to actively integrate the legal team within wider the business. For example, members of the legal team sit several internal committees to better understand business priorities.

What are some of the main trends in the industry sector you work in in Ireland?

As part of Carne’s commitment to our clients, we have commissioned two major pieces of international research through the independent research company Pureprofile, with 201 institutional investors responsible for a total of $1.7 trillion and 201 fund managers responsible for a total of $1.6 trillion.

The results of the survey highlight increased regulatory and corporate governance challenges. These growing challenges mean that 91% of fund managers questioned expect to increase their use of third-party service providers over the next 12 months, with 41% anticipating a dramatic increase. The industry will increasingly be looking to rely on specialist third parties to provide a range of services, from regulatory compliance to the marketing of its funds and fiduciary management.

Our findings highlight that many organisations are struggling to recruit the staff they need in-house, especially in a cost-cutting environment where it makes more sense to outsource and ‘buy in’ the expertise and experience needed and drive greater efficiencies.