IOB Wealth Management Conference 2026

Margaret D’Arcy

Director Financial Services, Funds and Wealth Planning Education

Margaret D’Arcy is the Programme Director at IOB for Funds and Wealth Planning. Margaret joined IOB in August 2019 after spending more than twenty years lecturing on both professional and university accounting programmes.

Margaret's career started in retail banking and took her through a variety of roles, including Audit, Project Management and finally Head of Operations Treasury and International.

Kevin McConnell

CFA, CEO GEM Strategic

Kevin, a Chartered Financial Analyst, is an external specialist consultant in the banking and investment sectors with over 30 years of experience in financial markets. Working with banks, regulators and investors in Credit, Capital, Stress Testing and Strategy, Kevin has experience in over a dozen regulatory jurisdictions across Europe, US and Emerging markets.

He has worked through a range of top tier M&A transactions providing stress testing/due diligence consultancy, and transaction advisory. He was a member of the Committee on Collective Investment Governance (CCIG) of Central Bank of Ireland (2014) which supported the development of CP86. Kevin has presented and provided training at European Central Bank, and has delivered expert programs to European and Middle Eastern based regulators on Bank Capital, Credit and IFRS9.

He was a member of the Advisory Committee of the Certified Investment Fund Director Institute for seven years, delivering programs in Investment Management to board directors, and is a Senior Associate of Faculty, Institute of Banking (IOB) Executive Education- Certified Bank Director Program since 2012. He has designed and delivers the Structured Finance/Credit program for the Msc in Finance in Michael Smurfit Business School, University College Dublin, the Graduate Diploma in Alternative Investment, the Professional Certificate in Capital Market Investment & Funds program for the Institute of Banking (IOB-UCD), and the Asset Management/Sustainable Finance program on the Msc. in Finance, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) for over a decade.

Kevin has also delivered programs on Bank Capital, Investments and Credit, in association with the IOB and Cambridge University. Kevin is also an adjunct Professor of Finance with TCD, and Examiner for the Certified Financial Planner examination for Financial Planning & Standards Board in Ireland.

Kevin is also deputy chair of the Irish platform of one of the largest CLO originators in Europe, sits on a range of investment fund boards and is chief executive of GEM Strategic, a specialist banking and investment consultancy firm.

Emer Kirk

CEO of the Financial Planning Standards Board Ireland

Emer is CEO of the Financial Planning Standards Board, the body in Ireland responsible for the CFP professional designation and promoting improved standards in personal financial planning.

Prior to this she was an Associate Director in a Wealth Management firm and specialised in providing personal financial planning to private clients.

She is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER professional, an Associate of the Institute of Taxation and a Qualified Financial Adviser