Person attributes
Francesca McDonagh (born 1974/1975) is an Irish-British banker. She was appointed Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bank of Ireland in October 2017. She succeeded Richie Boucher who had served as CEO of the bank from February 2009.
Education
McDonagh grew up in Croydon in London and attended Coloma Comprehensive Girls’ School in Croydon. She studied at Oxford University where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.
Bank of Ireland CEO
McDonagh joined Bank of Ireland from HSBC Group, where she held a number of senior management roles. She is the first female CEO of Bank of Ireland.
Bank of Ireland was the country’s only domestic lender to avoid nationalisation during the financial crisis. By 2013, the bank had returned €6 billion for the €4.8 billion State aid injection.
Early challenges in her role include the fallout of the tracker mortgage issue. McDonagh and the heads of the other five main Irish retail banks were called by Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe to discuss their respective plans on resolving the tracker mortgage issue that had impacted their customers.
McDonagh has stated her focus is on technological transformation, improvements in internal culture, and enhanced customer service across the Group. She has also promoted Bank of Ireland’s objective to reach 50:50 gender balance in management and leadership appointments by 2021.
Personal life
McDonagh, an Irish national, was born in Wimbledon, London, to an Irish father and Egyptian mother. McDonagh's paternal grandfather comes from the village of Carraroe in County Galway and her paternal grandmother is from Laois.
She lives in Dalkey, Dublin with her husband, who is French and owns a patisserie business.
