Amundi Ireland’s, Sarah Austin has been awarded by NCI for her Outstanding Academic Achievement

Tuesday 21 June 2022

Amundi Ireland’s, Sarah Austin has been awarded by NCI for her Outstanding Academic Achievement

Earlier this month, Sarah Austin was awarded for her 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. Sarah graduated in 2021 with a Distinction and achieved the the highest overall average of any IFS Associate graduate to date!

‘I loved the apprenticeship programme so was thrilled to receive this award from NCI. Thank you to Amundi Ireland who supported me every step of the way. The guidance I was given in work and college helped me to excel in the financial services industry. I recommend the apprenticeship programme to anyone who wants to explore and develop both their professional and interpersonal skills in a hands-on, fast paced environment. It gave me a true taste of what to expect from a career in finance and I’m hungry for more!’ Sarah Austin, Amundi Ireland

Sarah joined the IFS Apprentice programme in 2019 under the mentorship of Ronan Burke on the Asset Data Management team in Amundi Ireland. She has now completed her apprenticeship and has joined the Reporting Expertise team as an Expertise Reporting Analyst. Sarah now continues to study for a bachelor’s degree at night in Business Management at NCI.

'When we first opted to take in an apprentice from NCI we didn’t know what to expect but we quickly learned that Sarah was an instant value add to our team, Sarah picked up the role very quickly and brought new ideas on how we could improve some of our functions. Sarah constantly provided the best level of customer support and escalated any issues when they arose. At the end of Sarah’s two year rotation she moved into a new role within BSO. Overall I think the apprenticeship scheme with NCI is a valuable resource that I cannot recommend enough'. Ronan Burke

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.

To find out more about the IFS Apprenticeships please visit: https://ifsapprenticeships.ie/