Amundi Ireland's Graeme Duff receives award for Outstanding Academic Achievement by NCI

Monday 24 July 2023

Amundi Ireland's Graeme Duff - receives Outstanding Academic Achievement Award by NCI 

Graeme Duff, Compliance Officer at Amundi Ireland, was awarded for his outstanding academic achievement on the IFS Associate Apprenticeship (Higher Certificate in International Financial Services). The winner of the award is the person ranked 1st by their overall grade average in the graduating class. This is the second consecutive year where an Amundi apprentice was awarded this prestigious honour.

"I was honoured and proud to have received such an award. Considering the blend of study and work in a new field was quite a challenge, it was fulfilling to see it pay off. The apprenticeship was a great chance to gain both experience and qualifications while working in a professional environment at the top of the financial services industry. I am grateful to the educators at NCI and colleagues of Amundi Ireland, who provided valuable guidance and support throughout the programme. I appreciate the opportunity and highly recommend this apprenticeship to anyone who wants to break into financial services or develop their existing skills." - Graeme Duff, Amundi Ireland.

Graeme joined the IFS apprenticeship programme in 2020 under the mentorship of Aidan Rodgers, Senior Complaince Manager & Head of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing in Amundi Ireland.

"When we first opted to take in an apprentice from NCI we didn’t know what to expect but we quickly learned that Graeme was a great addition to our team. Graeme picked up the role quickly and brought a new perspective to compliance. Graeme constantly provided an excellent level of compliance support within Amundi and escalated any issues when they arose. At the end of Graeme’s two year rotation he has remained within the Compliance team and has taken on additional tasks from other areas within Compliance. Overall, I think the apprenticeship programme with NCI is a valuable resource that I cannot recommend enough." - Aidan Rodgers

Amundi was also the official sponsor of the award for the Higher Diploma in International Financial Services which was received by Elaine Warren on behalf of Terri Forbes in Ulster Bank. Each of the awards were presented by Jennifer Caroll MacNeill, Minister of State at the Department of Finance and Gina Quin, President at National College of Ireland.

The IFS Apprentice programme is a two-year, nationally accredited work based programme designed to meet employers’ needs and tackle the skills shortages in entry level and specialist level roles in the Financial Services sector. The IFS Apprenticeships lead to a Level 6 Higher Certificate in International Financial Services or a Level 8 Higher Diploma in Financial Services Analytics.