Article by Noel Welsh

Aidan Brady is looking relaxed having obviously found the magic formula of mixing work with family life. Brady just spent his summer vacation at the family oliday home in Marbella, Spain with his wife Lit and their two children--15 year old Jonathan and 10 year old Jessica. There he enjoys sports such as soccer and GAA. The 46 year old Dubliner also gets in a few rounds of golf, a sport he is passionate about (his handicap is 15).

Golf is a fitting interest given that Brady is not only Chief Executive of Citibank Ireland, but also Country Corporate Officer of Citigroup's activities in Ireland and Market Manager for Citibank in Ireland and UK offshore region. As one of Ireland's top executives (born in Dublin in 1954), he nonetheless prefers getting to work on his 750cc Honda rather than in his SL Sports Mercedes.

With an office overlooking the River Liffey all the way along to O'Connell Bridge in the heart of Dublin (and a home in Rathmines), the downto-earth corporate leader oversees a multibillion-dollar operation. Wearing pin-striped trousers, white shirt and tie, the youthful looking Brady seems well-suited for the role. Did he always want to be in banking? "I got a job in accountancy, but at the time I did want to join Citibank".

Brady joined Citibank in Dublin in '85 having started his career in financial services with ICC Bank in 1980. He headed up its Treasury and Corporate Bank before being appointed CEO Ireland in 1992. "We're into corporate banking and this means that there is a huge array of different products. We sell products to Irish customers and I run that directly," he says. "The other businesses would come to me as I'm the overall head in dealing with the Irish authorities for any franchise issues. I'm the face of the organization."

Citibank has been in Ireland since 1965 and was one of the first international banks to set up a branch in the country. In November 1996, Citibank opened the Dublin Service Centre which now employs over 1,250 people. It has recently built a new 200,000 sq. ft. office building on a 2.2 acre site which forms part of the newly extended 12 acre area of the International Financial Services Centre on Custom House Quay.

Today the bank that underwrote Lincoln's Union has made Dublin its European hub with Brady at the helm. These new offices will bring Citibank's expanding presence in Dublin together in one location. It has also extended the customer services processing operation which primarily supports the transaction processing and customer services banking activities of Citibank in Europe. Last year, Citigroup was named Best Foreign Bank in Ireland for the sixth consecutive time. If it were a football club like Manchester United, it would be winning the Premiership. "Well, maybe the Liverpool of about five years ago," Brady comments. It's obvious that just as he likes his banking, he enjoys soccer and Liverpool is his team.

With Brady as Citibank Ireland's Chief Executive, the bank has achieved over 70% share of its target market. The Cash~ Management Services unit in Dublin deals with up to 5,000 transactions with a value of over $220 billion and 36,000 transactions value 82 billion Euros per day. This business supports the customers located in Western Europe, North America and Asia. Primerica, the group's insurance arm, is opening an office in Dublin this year and will provide products for the European market.

"This is the very important result of the merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group in 1998. The Travelers, very much a US organization, now as Primerica, has the opportunity to piggyback on the Citibank network around the world; to get into countries quickly and develop the insurance business already there. It's their first venture into Europe and setting up here in Dublin is marvelous for us."

As a result of such efforts, Citibank contributed &135,000 to the National College of Ireland to help fund the construction in the new Docklands campus this year. Construction on the new site begins in October 2000 and is due for completion in the Spring of 2002. When he handed over the check, the businessman said, "The new National College of Ireland will greatly improve access to education for the wider community. We are happy to employ NCI graduates here."

Over the next three years, Citibank will have a staff of over 2,000 in Ireland and its new Dublin DocMands offices will serve as home base. Brady has been overseeing such growth and the subsequent evolution of the banking community to include a more diverse workforce employing far more women than ever before.

"Traditionally banking is male dominated," he says. "But more recently the ratio is 60-40 in favor of men and that's changing for the future. Twenty percent of our overall work~orce is dealing with customer services in foriegn languages."

When asked if he was thinking about taking advantage of the organization's international pull and move on to another location, Brady replies, "I have no great ambitions to go abroad. I'm happy with the lifestyle in Ireland and the job is extremely interesting. I'd like to keep it going at the top level."

No wonder. With his position at Citibank secure, Brady is able to stay at the forefront of banking developments-especiaIly those in technology--at efforts that mirror Ireland's technological currency as well. For decades a world leader in harnessing the power of new technologies, Citibank is today thoroughly involved in the research and development of new web-based e-commerce solutions. "If you ask any chief executive of any company what most occupies their minds, they'll say the intemet and new technology issues.

Citibank has always been synonymous with technology, especially on the corporate banking side," Brady feels the tie with Citibank puts him at the forefront of the banking world. "All our customers have been on electronic banking for years and the web is just going to improve that dramatically."