On the spot: Bank of Ireland Asset Management's COO
Sean Crowe, BIAM's COO and head of global fixed income and specialist products, fields eFinancialCareers' questions, and will answer yours if you ask nicely...
A brief history of your career?
I joined Eagle Star Asset Management as a trainee investment manager and was lucky enough to be given bond portfolios to manage in the first year. I spent four subsequent years there as a bond and currency asset manager. I was then headhunted by Bank of Ireland Global Markets for a proprietary bond and derivatives trading role. The next 13 years were spent there, where I ended up as global head of trading, overseeing €100bn and 60 traders in Dublin, London and New York managing interest rate, credit and currency risks, before I joined BIAM in late 2006.
Moment of glory?
The growth in the risk management business while I was at Bank of Ireland Global Markets. We grew the income from risk-taking activities by a multiple during the time that I was there.
What would you rather we forgot?
Sometimes, as a prop trader, you make decisions that are dreadfully wrong and you just have to wear it. That moment for me was when I bet the wrong way on sterling during the early 1990s. I tipped interest rates to go up and they went down - for a long time. It was a year of hell.
What do you know now that you wish you had known then?
Just calling the direction of markets isn't enough. Managing your risk in an appropriate way - whether it be diversification or risk timing - is absolutely crucial, not only to generating results but also for giving you peace of mind when you're running the positions.
Luck or hard work?
You make your own luck. The investment management game is a game of probabilities, so a little bit of luck is involved, but if you do the right thing consistently you'll get the results.
How did you get your first job?
A college professor gave me a list of names of people in the industry who he was personally acquainted with. It was a little cheeky asking for advice from people at a senior level. Some weren't particularly helpful, but the ones that were opened a lot of doors. One of the people I spoke to recommended me to someone else who then gave me an interview.
Which role propelled you to the top?
The proprietary trading post. At some stage in everybody's career they become the person who is associated with the success of a particular fund or product. If that goes well for you, it's very transparent and tangible and it can propel you forward.
When did you feel you'd made it?
After a couple of years, the returns of the funds I was responsible for at Bank of Ireland Global Markets made it obvious to others I could do what I was purporting to.
Where will you be in five years?
BIAM is in a turnaround situation. We'd been under-performing on our core equities product, and now we're building a broader and more diversified portfolio - in fixed income, property and alternative investments. And that's where I'm staying.
Want to ask Sean a question? Add a comment to the comment box below and he'll be available to answer your query between 5 and 8 February.
