Corporate Governance

Ulster Bank Ireland DAC

Ulster Bank Ireland DAC is committed to the highest standards of corporate governance, business integrity and professionalism in all its activities.

The Board is the principal decision-making forum for the company. It has overall responsibility for leading and controlling the company. Our Board approves the strategy and monitors performance. It has adopted a formal schedule of matters reserved for Board discussion that details key aspects of the company's affairs and this schedule is reviewed annually.

The Board recognises the value of diversity and has issued a diversity statement.

Find out more about the Ulster Bank Ireland DAC Board committee

Capital Requirements Directive (CRD V)

The fifth Capital Requirements Directive (CRD V) requires an institution such as Ulster Bank Ireland DAC to include a compliance statement on its website in relation to certain articles contained in the Directive.

Find out how Ulster Bank Ireland DAC complies with the requirements relating to governance, remuneration and reporting.

Chair

Martin Murphy

Martin Murphy brings significant Financial Services and Technology experience to his role as Chairman of UBIDAC. A Certified Bank Director (CBD), Martin was appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director to the UBIDAC board in July 2016, and is currently chair of the Nominations committee and a member of the Remuneration Committee.

Martin is a board member of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) which manages Ireland's National Debt, Ireland's Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) and provides a range of asset and liability management services to Government. He is currently Chair of the ISIF Investment Committee.

Martin is also Chairman at Echelon Datacentres, a fast-growing Datacentre developer, currently developing a pan European network of large-scale data centre campuses.

Previously Martin was Chairman and Chief Executive of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Ireland, whose operations span sales and services, international financial services, global technical support and research and development.

He holds a BA.BAI(HONS) in Engineering and Mathematics and a MSc in Electronic Engineering from Trinity College Dublin.

Executive Directors

Jane Howard - Chief Executive Officer

Jane Howard joined Ulster Bank Ireland DAC as CEO on 3rd September 2018.

Jane has more than 40 years experience in the financial services industry across a wide range of functions, having served in personal banking, commercial banking, risk management and operations. She has operated at Executive level for more than 15 years and in her previous role, she led the NatWest Group’s Personal Bank through a period of significant and successful change and expansion.

Jane is a Chartered Director (IOD), Certified Bank Director(IOB), holds a degree in Banking and diplomas in Compliance and Culture & Ethics

Marcus Ruegg - Finance Director

Marcus Ruegg was appointed as Finance Director in August 2024.

Marcus joined Ulster Bank in 2010 and has held a number of roles within Finance, most recently Financial Controller.

Marcus is a Chartered Accountant (FCA) and a Certified Bank Director (IOB) and holds a Masters in Accounting from Queen’s University Belfast and a BSc in Accounting from the University of Ulster. Marcus also serves as a non-executive director on the board of a charity, Inspire Wellbeing, where he chairs the Finance, Risk and Corporate Services Committee.

Non Executive Directors

David Guest

David Guest was appointed to the UBIDAC Board in June 2021 as an Independent Non-Executive Director. David is Chair of the Risk Committee and a member of Audit and Nominations committees.

David has over 30 years’ experience in international treasury and banking. From 1994 – 2003, he was Managing Director of ABN AMRO IFSC. He held the position Country Manager of ABN AMRO Ireland from 2003 - 2009. Prior to this, David held the position of Managing Director with CLF Yeoman Group.

David currently is Chair of the Risk Committee at XL Insurance Co SE and State Street Custodial Services. He is also an Independent Non-Executive Director at MMS Multi Market / Multi Euro Services DAC. David has held positions as Chair of Vera Financial DAC and Northern Trust Fiduciary Services (Ire) Ltd and Chair of the Risk Committee and Chair of the Audit Committee with Bank of America Merrill Lynch International.

David is a Chartered Company Director (Institute of Directors) and holds a Bachelor of Arts from University College Dublin and a Bachelor of Business Studies from Trinity College Dublin.

Mary Walsh

Mary Walsh was appointed to the UBIDAC Board in July 2021 as an Independent Non-Executive Director. Mary is Chair of the Audit Committee, and a member of the Risk Committee and Performance & Remuneration Committee.

Mary is a Chartered Accountant and was formerly an international tax partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers. She has over 20 years’ experience as a non-executive director and committee chair. Her directorship portfolio has included Scotiabank Ireland DAC and the National Treasury Management Agency, and she has served as a board member and committee chair on a range of financial sector, commercial, State and not-for-profit boards.

Mary holds a BSc in Experimental Physics from University College Dublin

Peter Norton

Peter Norton was appointed to the UBIDAC Board in September 2021 as the NatWest Group Representative, Non-Executive Director. He is also a member of the Nominations committee.

Peter currently is the Group Director of Finance at NatWest Group. Prior to his appointment in February 2022, he was Finance Director of Commercial Banking.

Before joining NatWest Group in October 2018, Peter spent four years at UK Financial Investments (UKFI) managing HM Government's shareholdings in RBS, Lloyds and UK Asset Resolution (Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock Asset Management (NRAM)). He also served as a non-executive director of NRAM and Bradford & Bingley.

Prior to UKFI, Peter was an investment banker at Lehman, Nomura and UBS.

Peter is a Chartered Accountant (Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland), and holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Warwick.

Niamh Marshall - Non-Executive Director

Niamh Marshall is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Niamh graduated from University College Dublin with a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce in 1983. Niamh joined KPMG where she worked for 39 years before her retirement in April 2022. Throughout her time in KPMG, Niamh worked in roles to include; audit lead and advisor to many of KPMG Ireland’s leading financial services companies. She also served on the Board of KPMG on a number of occasions. Throughout her auditing career, Niamh has led the audits of a number of significant financial services firms.

In 1998, Niamh was appointed KPMG Ireland’s first female Partner in the history of KPMG Ireland.

Niamh serves as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of the Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland and a member of the Audit and Risk Committee of the Irish Rugby Football Union (“IRFU”).

Niamh was appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director to the UBIDAC Board in January 2023. She is Chair of the Performance & Remuneration Committee and a member of the Board Risk Committee and Audit Committee.

Richard La Mothe

Richard was appointed to the UBIDAC Board in October 2024 as an Independent Non-Executive Director. Richard currently is the Head of Balance Sheet Management, reporting into the Treasurer of NatWest Group. He has been with NatWest Group for 15 years and has held other senior Treasury roles including Head of Capital Management.

Richard is a qualified Management Accountant (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants), and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and Economics from Birmingham City University.

Senior Executive Committee Members

Jane Howard - Chief Executive Office Close

Jane Howard joined Ulster Bank Ireland DAC as CEO on 3rd September 2018.

Jane is a Chartered Director (IOD), Certified Bank Director(IOB), holds a degree in Banking and diplomas in Compliance and Culture & Ethics.

Fergus Gaughran - Director of Risk Close

Fergus was appointed Director of Risk in November 2024. He has extensive experience of model development and validation across retail and wholesale portfolios. This includes programme leadership across IRB, IFRS 9, stress testing, customer management and arrears management models over the past fifteen years. Fergus teaches a number of modules on credit risk, capital and asset liability management for the Institute of Bankers and facilitates the Credit module on the Certified Bank Director programme. He acts as the Mathematics external examiner at an Irish university. His educational background includes a B.Sc. in Mathematical Sciences, M.Sc. in Mathematical Sciences and PhD in Mathematics and he is a Qualified Financial Advisor.

Marcus Ruegg - Finance Director Close

Marcus Ruegg was appointed as Finance Director in August 2024.

Marcus joined Ulster Bank in 2010 and has held a number of roles within Finance, most recently Financial Controller.

Philip Duff – Head of Customer Services Close

Philip initially joined First Active in 2002 before transitioning to Ulster Bank in 2006. Philip has extensive experience in the financial services sector. Within Ulster Bank he has held a variety of Senior Leadership roles across our Personal Banking, Commercial and Services teams, with previous responsibilities including Transformation & Change Management, Mortgages, Treasury, Anti-Money Laundering, Operations, Incident Management, Business Resilience, Outsourcing and Property Services. More recently he was responsible for the development and delivery of the integrated Personal Banking Withdrawal Plan. Philip was appointed to the Ulster Bank Executive Committee in January 2023 as Managing Director for Personal Banking.

Stuart Tapp - Director of Technology Information and Operations Officer Close

Stuart is Director of Technology Information and Operations Officer (DTIO) for Ulster Bank Ireland DAC.

Stuart joined NatWest (formerly Royal Bank of Scotland) in 1999 and has held various Project/Programme Manager and Delivery Management roles across Natwest as well as delivery of major Organisational Change

he is an experienced Programme/Project Manager successfully delivering major global projects across business and functional areas.

He joined the team in UBIDAC in 2021 to lead the UBIDAC Withdrawal Programme, the exit of UBIDAC from the Irish market, and he will continue to lead the programme along with taking on DTIO responsibilities.

Rachel Gardner – Head of Business Operations Close

Rachel Gardner is Head of Business Operations responsible for Business Management, Human Resources, Corporate Affairs, Communications and Marketing. Rachel joined Ulster Bank in 2006 and has held various senior positions across Finance, Treasury, Risk¸ Strategy and more recently as Senior Business Manager to the CEO of Ulster Bank Ireland DAC. Rachel is passionate about aligning organisational culture and strategy to achieve the best outcomes for colleagues and customers.

Rachel holds a Bachelor of Commerce from UCC, is a Chartered Certified Accountant (FCCA) and Certified Bank Director (IOB) and holds diplomas in Culture and Ethics and Corporate Finance.