EY CEO Outlook: Leading with Endurance with Laura Trimble, CEO of HSBC Ireland

In this episode of the EY CEO Outlook Podcast, Laura Trimble, CEO of HSBC Ireland joins host Richard Curran to discuss leadership culture, customer-focused banking, and why Ireland remains a stable and attractive place to do business in a volatile global economy.

“There are quite a few parallels between doing endurance sports and working ... It requires you to plan, to be organised, to make a schedule, and to break big goals down into smaller ones along the way.”

Laura Trimble brings the mindset of an endurance athlete to leadership, focused on preparation, resilience, and long-term performance.

Raised on the south coast of England, Laura Trimble studied Mathematics and joined HSBC during a college placement before progressing into a full-time role with the organisation.

After building extensive technical and international experience across the business, she relocated to Ireland to take up the role of CEO of HSBC Ireland.

Laura has built her career inside the organisation, gaining deep technical expertise, international experience, and a strong understanding of how businesses grow and adapt in changing environments.

They also discuss:

-             How endurance sport principles shape leadership

-             Building a high performance, high care team culture

-             Why customer success is central to HSBC’s role globally

-             What global customers are saying about optimism and supply chain          resilience
 -             Ireland’s position as a stable place to do business

 -             The value of diverse perspectives in better decision-making

-             The impact she hopes to leave as a leader

Transcript

Carol Murphy, Partner and Head of Markets, EY: Welcome to the EY CEO Outlook podcast, where our host Richard Curran chats to some of Ireland’s leading CEOs about life and leadership. Hi, I’m Carol Murphy, Partner and Head of Markets at EY. In this episode we welcome Laura Trimble, CEO of HSBC Ireland, the country’s leading international bank. Laura talks about leadership culture, customer-focused banking, and why Ireland remains a stable and attractive place to do business in a volatile global economy. Over to you Richard.

Richard Curran: Thanks, Carol. You're very welcome. Lots to talk about HSBC. But I often have CEOs here who do a little bit of running or maybe even a half marathon, or maybe even a full marathon. But, Laura, I want to start by by putting it to you that you've gone a lot further than that in your running time, haven't you?

Laura Trimble: I have, yeah, well, when I was younger, I got into endurance sports. Actually, I used to do triathlons for a while, and then after my kids were born, I took up marathons and got quite into it. So I've run quite a few marathons over the years to a decent level. I've run a few sub three hour marathons, and one time I even did two sub three hour marathons within one week. So running's always been a part of my life.

Richard Curran: I'm tempted to say why 2 in 1 week, but there must have been a good reason.

Laura Trimble: There was a good reason, it was after Covid. So part of it was to do with plans moving around. And actually part of it was just challenging myself to see if I could do it.

Richard Curran: And then you've done Ironman competitions and all as well, haven't you?

Laura Trimble: Yeah, I've done 12 Ironmans, I think it is, over the years, I think I found the notion of trying to challenge myself with some sort of a long distance endurance activity quite interesting. I think it means you have to be very, very structured, very organised, really plan your life around how you're going to get all of that training done. And I thought it was a good challenge. Took up quite a bit of my free time at the time. So I've not done it in a while, but I think it was a good, a good way to test myself and and see how good I could be.

Richard Curran: Yeah, because even aside from testing yourself in that physical challenge and mental challenge as well, do you think you've benefited from all of that experience in other ways?

Laura Trimble: I think there's quite a few parallels between doing endurance sports and between working and and leading teams and doing anything really to a high level. I think it requires you to, to plan, to be organised, to make a schedule, to think about how you're going to reach the end goal by breaking it down into a number of smaller goals along the way. So I think there's quite a few parallels to trying to do anything really well. It also requires you to be able to work intensely at some times and then also, you know, relax and recover and make sure you have those peaks and troughs because that's the way that you actually improve.

Richard Curran: Well, I want to go back to the start. And you grew up on the south coast of England? And,you joined HSBC at a relatively young, young age. It was straight out of university, was it?

Laura Trimble: Yeah, exactly. So I went to university and I studied maths. I've always been quite interested in sort of sciencey technical topics, and I was quite fortunate when I was at university, had the opportunity to work for HSBC originally just for a summer when I was a student. So it was my first experience, really. I didn't know anything about banking, had hardly been to London even, so it was a great experience to spend a bit of time in the bank there. I was very fortunate to be offered a full-time role at the end of that, so when I graduated, I joined HSBC full time in London.

Richard Curran: And Financial services. That was, as you say, not necessarily something you particularly had your eye on, but it was a logical step from the kinds of subjects you were interested in school and what you'd studied.

Laura Trimble: Yeah, exactly. So I've studied maths and economics in school. My dad had studied engineering and my mum had studied maths at uni, so I think I'd always been quite interested in those sort of technical, challenging topics. I've never been very good at arty subjects, so I was always gravitated more towards the sciencey side. Studied maths and at that time it was quite, quite common, I think, for people in that area to go into financial services. So it seemed like a logical move at the time, but definitely wasn't done with any great thought and planning. I think it more seemed the natural place to end up. And then as I moved into the business, learned a bit more about it, I found the areas that I found most interesting to stay.

Richard Curran: And working for HSBC, an organisation like that, an international organisation with big reach. Was it appealing to the idea of traveling, the idea that you could live in different parts of the world? Was that something that you wanted?

Laura Trimble: Yeah. I think the great thing about working for a large organisation like HSBC is you do get that international experience. I didn't actually, early in my career, take the opportunity to live abroad, but I did have a lot of opportunity to visit other countries, whether that was different places in Europe or even chances to visit places like Asia, the Middle East. So I think it's a great benefit of working for an international organisation that you are able to be exposed to those different places and also from a business standpoint, able to learn different things. And the bank's very good at actually providing opportunities to learn, to develop, both in terms of your your knowledge around products and different areas of finance, but then also visiting other international markets.

Richard Curran: And along the way you you move through different roles and different parts of of the organisation. And prior to coming to Ireland, you would have had roles in that would have been across things like products and particular products. So quite a technical aspect to that.

Laura Trimble: Yeah, I think following on from university, I ended up in in areas where I would be specialising in a particular product. So typically it would be a part of finance where you'd be looking to help a company in a particular way if they needed to borrow money or to develop their business, perhaps to take the business public on the stock exchange, for example. So it fitted with the learning I had done so far, I think because it was it was technical, it was quite complex. It required you to be, you know, thoughtful and develop your knowledge in a particular area. As I moved through my career, I started to take on more products and start to build a slightly wider viewpoint of all of the different types of finance that might help a company to grow, but it was always in that area of technical product knowledge rather than a sort of wider leadership role, for example.

Richard Curran: So you came to Ireland as CEO, and not only is it a change in terms of coming to Ireland, but also the CEO role, it's more about management and it's about managing other people who are doing other things. Um, the business in Ireland, you've got corporate banking, fund administration, asset management, three different strands. How big a change was that for you to step into that kind of leadership role?

Laura Trimble: Well, it was a huge change because it was the first role that I had done where I was responsible for leading other leaders. I think that was the significant change in my previous roles. I had built up knowledge and I had been a team leader of small teams, but it was the type of roles in the past where you would have the opportunity to know everyone very well personally, and you would typically be working closely with the members of your team on a daily basis. When you move into the CEO role, given the size of the team and the number of people in the organisation, you have to lead differently. So we employ about 300 people in Ireland. And so what that means is you're leading in a different way. So you're leading by example. You're leading through your leadership team. And it's much more about making sure that you're, you're clear to the whole organisation and the business in terms of things like your priorities, the goals of the business, but you rely on other people to lead the teams day to day. So it was quite a big change and compounded by the change also of moving to Dublin with my family. And that was another change as well. So it was quite different. But I think a very fulfilling and interesting challenge to take on.

Richard Curran: And on the leadership side, moving up to 300 people, it's an opportunity to to develop your own leadership style and to sort of even sort of question yourself as to, well, how do I want to do this? What do I think is the best way to manage this organisation? How has that sort of evolved for you?

Laura Trimble: Yeah, I think it's quite interesting because first, when you first come into that role, I think you are thinking about the structure that you want to put in place to lead the organisation. And then a large part of that is the the culture that you want the teams to to feel from you and the way that they they should act and behave to, to achieve the goals of the business. So I've always felt the culture of the team is very important. The way that I think about it. We use an expression of sort of high performance, high care culture. So I think it's extremely important to be challenged and to be energized. Going back to the the parallels with with high performance sports, I think working for a business where you're challenged and you feel like you're developing all of the time is personally, I think very energizing. So I think high performance is important. It's also important for us because our customers are real businesses and real people. So if we perform at our best for them, that means that our customers are getting the best possible services, which is what we aspire to deliver. So I think high performance is very important, but it's also important to achieve that in the right way. So and that's the high care I think it's very important that it doesn't move into a culture that's that's aggressive or that's in, you know, a narrow culture where only financial outcomes, for example, are considered. And that's for me, the high care. It's still about making sure that we get to the right outcomes in the right way. We care about the people who work in the business, and we make sure that all types of people can be successful in our business because different people are energized by by different things. But actually, it's important to make sure that we have a culture that supports everyone. And that's something that I'm very conscious of as an as an employer and as the CEO of our business is making sure that we achieve those high performance outcomes for our customers, but in the right way.

Richard Curran: How do you think you can achieve that? Because there's a whole management school about high performance, high performance. There are lots of of managers and leaders who are are very strong on the whole issue of being attentive to the people who work in the organization and the high care. Is it possible to achieve both, or is it about these are two sort of, uh, at times maybe contradictory forces, and it's about trying to get the mix the best you can.

Laura Trimble: I think it's it's absolutely possible to achieve both. And I don't think they contradict. But I think you have to think about what are the elements that give you that high performance culture, and then how do you interact with your people. So a simple example would be feedback. Do you give people in the moment feedback and coaching to make sure that if there's an area where they need to improve, you're giving them that feedback in a way that they can act on it straight away. It's not about being nice. I think sometimes people think that part of having care around your people is being being nice and being kind, and that means you should avoid things like giving difficult feedback, having difficult conversations. Really, I believe the opposite. It's about, you know, helping your teams to develop by understanding the people in your team and caring about them, but also giving them that feedback that enables them to improve. And I think as long as you get the balance right between the way that you're dealing with people, it involves building up relationships. It involves having clear communication with your teams, following up with team members regularly. But I think if you can do that, it's absolutely possible to have a high performance and a high care culture at the same time.

Richard Curran: What about coming to Ireland then? Because previously you'd been in London. Had you been to Ireland much?

Laura Trimble: I'd been to Ireland a few times. Um, in my previous role, one of my responsibilities was to, uh, support customers all over Europe. So I would come to Ireland at times and, and speak to some of the Irish businesses based here who banked with HSBC overseas. My father is actually from Northern Ireland, so I'd spent a little bit more time in that part of the world rather than in Dublin itself.

Richard Curran: So what was it like making the move then? Because we're all obsessed here with the the price of housing and rents and traffic and infrastructure, and sometimes we can be a bit, um, a bit down on ourselves that it's all a bit difficult. But as somebody who was moving here and moving your family here, um, what was all that like?

Laura Trimble: I think we've been really lucky and really fortunate with the experience that we've had. I think Dublin has a lot of benefits in terms of living here as a city. So I moved from London to Dublin, but before that I grew up in the country. So I don't really think of myself as a as a city person. And we found that Dublin has a great mix of both the sort of international city environment, but also this great accessibility to the rest of the country and all of the great benefits of the Irish outdoors. So we've been very fortunate. We found a very welcoming environment, both in terms of the the financial services industry where I work, but also for the rest of the family and for the for the children in school as well. So we've been pretty fortunate. I would say it's been a great experience. Um, one of the things that I love about Dublin is that it's such a walkable city. So that's something that I really value compared to living in London. So I'd say so far so good.

Richard Curran: When you look at, um, the role at HSBC and the operations they have here, and you've talked a bit about culture and you've talked about the business mix and so forth, what are your priorities insofar as what does success in the role look like for you?

Laura Trimble: Yeah. So there are there are two parts of our business as as we touched on earlier. But fundamentally, I see our role as supporting businesses and supporting people in the real economy. And that for us is important. It's not just finance for the sake of finance. You know, we are providing financial services to to real companies. So to Irish companies that want to do business with us in Ireland and around the world, and also to global companies who want to do business in Ireland. So success for us really is based on the success of our customers. So we want to help Irish businesses grow. We want to provide them with products and services, which means that they can expand their businesses around the world, whether that's sending products around the world or whether that's setting up operations in new markets. The value that an international bank like HSBC brings is, is having that global network and those global products that enable those companies to succeed and grow. And if they succeed and grow, that's good for the businesses, it's good for their employees and it's good for the economy. So for us, success is really all about the success of our customers. And I see our role as a connector, really for these international businesses. And if we can help connect them better, if we can provide them with the products, the services, whether it's loans or trade finance or looking after their cash and keeping it safe for them. If our customers are successful, then so are we. Because fundamentally that's our role. It's to be here to support our customers.

Richard Curran: And with all of the international geopolitical uncertainty that's out there, there's a lot of talk in Ireland at the moment about how businesses need to diversify more so that we're not overly dependent on 1 or 2 key markets, whether it be the US, whether the UK. This was a whole debate we had around Brexit as well. Um, are you seeing Irish companies, those kind of exporting businesses looking to new markets?

Laura Trimble: We are. And I think it's a function of the world being a slightly more uncertain place that, you know, if you can't predict the future, then one of the best indicators of success is to be a little bit more diversified, because then companies will just be less reliant on a particular end market or a particular corridor. So if there is some disruption, you can offset that disruption by being a bit more diversified in other parts of your business. And we've certainly seen companies look at things like their supply chain and make it more resilient. So whether that's diversifying into some other markets or making some changes to their suppliers. We recently did a survey of of our global customers and they told us a few interesting things. Um, actually one of the results was they were feeling more optimistic. So I think that's positive. About two thirds of the companies we spoke to told us they felt more confident about the trade environment now than they did six months ago. But the other interesting statistic was that 84% of them told us that they either have already made changes to their supply chain to make it more resilient, or they were in the process of doing so. So we're certainly seeing customers look at their supply chains, think about where they can diversify to make their supply chain and their end markets more resilient. And we're seeing it at the government level as well. Part of the government's strategy has been to increase trade with other corridors. So for example, there was a strategy in 2025 to increase the two way trade between Ireland and Asia. And actually it exceeded that target. So we continue to see interest from companies in diversifying and particularly into other markets, places like Asia and the Middle East, where we're seeing very fast growing trade corridors, both in between Asia and the Middle East and between Europe and those markets. And it's an area where HSBC as an international connector, is very confident that we can help.

Richard Curran: As someone with with that international experience and perspective that you bring. Um, is Ireland still a very competitive a very good place to do business in your view?

Laura Trimble: It is. It is. I think it's worth remembering that the fundamentals of Ireland are still extremely strong. So it's an extremely stable place to do business. And one of the things our customers look for the most is is stability and resilience. I think the business environment here has been stable for many decades, and although the external environment is a bit more noisy than it was, we're not seeing that translate into a less stable environment to do business. I think the value of the business environment building up in Ireland over the past few decades is you have now an extremely skilled workforce here, and we continue to see Ireland as a great location for talent. There's a fantastic education system that's translating into a great availability of talent that we don't always see in other markets. And then other fundamentals are still strong. Membership of the European Union. English language, legal system, even the the climate and the time zone makes it easy for global companies to use Ireland as a base for their operations all around the world. So we still continue to see the fundamentals of Ireland as very strong.

Richard Curran: And when it comes to hiring or attracting talent to Dublin, again, our own concerns here about housing and those kinds of issues, is that something that you have seen becoming an issue, that that sort of rents, availability of housing, cost of buying houses, whatever it is, is becoming a bit of a challenge. Have you seen that?

Laura Trimble: I think we've seen it around the margins, where as an employer, it can be more difficult for the younger members of our team to find places to live. I think that's that's where it's tended to hit us as a challenge. You know, we have younger people in our team who are either commuting quite long distances from other parts of the country, or who are facing some challenges in terms of the rising rents in the city. We do speak to some companies, and I know it's something that businesses are quite aware of, if you wanted to bring a large number of employees into Dublin, whether it would be possible to get housing here, although our customers do look outside of Dublin as well. And so we've certainly seen good success of businesses with larger operations outside the city.

Richard Curran: As a woman CEO in financial services, on the one hand, within banking and international banking, we are seeing more women in very prominent roles and in CEO roles. At one stage here, a few years ago in Ireland, I think of the four main banks, two CEOs were women. But at the same time, you're still very much in the minority. And is it the case that you're very much in the minority in the financial services sector in particular?

Laura Trimble: Yeah, I think in Ireland itself, what I was struck by when I joined actually, was there was very good representation of women in senior roles in financial services. Actually, if you look across the international banks, there were several. There was an article around the time I arrived that I think the women were in the majority at that point. But yes.

Richard Curran: Somebody was shocked.

Laura Trimble: More generally, um, it is still the case that that that women, women CEOs are in the minority, I think, in, in lots of industries. Look, I think it depends on your viewpoint from, from my perspective, I think often it gives you the strength of having a different perspective in your role, which for someone who's in the majority is typically they may have a different view. It's something that I've found quite useful as a leader, although my experience won't be the same as everyone from any other minority. I think even the fact of being used to being, for example, one of a very small number of women in the room in my early parts of my career, I would frequently have been the only woman in my teams, particularly as I moved through to the more senior levels. I think it just gives you a different perspective sometimes on how things, how things are done, how things are getting done. Sometimes that can be a strength. If you come from a different viewpoint, you obviously have to make sure that your viewpoint is is heard and is listened to. But I do think it makes me a little bit more aware when thinking about my team and within my own business. Just making sure we listen to people and making sure that if we have someone from a different type of minority. I think probably I'm a little bit more attuned to seeking their view and asking for their feedback, perhaps, than some of my male colleagues might be.

Richard Curran: And in those early days where you found yourself the only woman in the room, I mean, did it in a way give you a better critical eye, perhaps that you're able to see things you're kind of like, yeah, they're all wrong about this, and they don't even know it. They can't even see it.

Laura Trimble: Uh, I mean, perhaps. I think it's just it's important to make sure that you have perspectives and that you share them. I think there's a wealth of evidence that suggests that diversity of perspectives is what improves decision making, improves outcomes, and that only female and male perspectives is only one small element of that. But I think it's something I'm more conscious of when I'm thinking about building teams, and when I'm looking at teams across our organisation is actually are we taking account of all of those different perspectives? And you tend to lose that diversity of perspective when the center of gravity of a team moves too much in a particular direction. So it's not so much about being the only woman in the room or being the only something else in the room, it's just making sure that you have enough of a critical mass of different points of view that actually you can get the benefit of those different perspectives. And once you have enough difference in the room, typically there's a bit more comfort to bring those different viewpoints, different perspectives forward.

Richard Curran: The mix and numbers can set the tone or change the tone.

Laura Trimble: Exactly.

Richard Curran: Now I want to move on to, uh, some quick questions. A quick fire round here, Laura, that I ask all of our guests on this podcast, and I'll just throw them out at you, a few questions. Firstly, what CEO or leader do you most admire and why?

Laura Trimble: Yeah, I struggle to put my finger on one person for this. I think the way that I see it is I try and, you know, absorb and take nuggets of of leadership and leadership techniques from, from many different people. And I've been really fortunate throughout my career to work with many phenomenal leaders, both at HSBC and and in other places. So, um, I hope I'm a good representation of, of all of those different viewpoints. Um, some of the most people I still work with, so I won't name names, but, um, but I do feel I've been really fortunate to have people to listen to and to learn from, and I'm certainly trying to keep learning.

Richard Curran: Okay. Um, favorite book or film?

Laura Trimble: Yeah, I'll go with film. Um, it's not very highbrow, but my absolute favorite film is a film called The Thomas Crown Affair from, from the 1990s. 

Richard Curran: There was the original Steve Mcqueen..

Laura Trimble: and Faye Dunaway, and, um, the remake is with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. I've just always liked it. It's a sort of bit of intrigue, bit of thriller, two very good leads. Um, so yeah, it's a film I enjoy watching.

Richard Curran: Bit of escapism as well.

Laura Trimble: Exactly, exactly.

Richard Curran: Now, do you have a mantra in life or in business that you find helpful?

Laura Trimble: Yeah, it's not exactly a phrase, but the the sort of rule I try and live by is, is to try and just show up as the best version of myself every day. And really, it's about being consistent. And consistency as a leader is is absolutely, vitally important that people experience the same version of you. And then it's just trying to make sure that you're always making the best decisions you can in the moment. Um, and just showing up in a way that gives the best outcomes to your team every day. So that's the sort of rules that I try to live by.

Richard Curran: Now, um, when you're finished in this job, what would you like people to say about what you achieved and how you achieved it?

Laura Trimble: Yeah, I think I'd like people to say that I made things better. That's the way that I think about it. If I think about people in my team, I want them to feel that they can show up to work every day. They can be themselves. They can focus on the work that they want to get done, and they can learn and they can develop and they can improve. And then in due time, they can progress on to doing something different. And I feel if I've put the the right ingredients in place, that everybody coming to work feels that way, then I think that would be something I'd be very proud of. If that's something that was said about me later.

Richard Curran: Biggest regret or mistake in life or career?

Laura Trimble: I try not to have regrets, but something I think I could have done better. Someone gave me a piece of advice a few years ago, and the advice was, no one is thinking about you as much as you think they are. And what they meant was that actually, when you're in the role, and when you're in the moment, you're going to be the best person to make the decision or to make the call or to see the future. Um, because that's why you're in the role, and you probably have better information as well than anyone else. I think when you're relatively new into a leadership position, it's quite common to look at other leaders and try and imagine, well, what would they do in this scenario or what might they have done previously in a scenario just like this one? But actually, you're always going to have a better view yourself on the context. And there's a reason that you're in the role. And I think particularly if you're a different type of leader, which I would say I am for many of the people that have gone before me, you're also probably going to make a different decision than what the other person might have done in the moment. So I think early in my career, I probably spent a little bit too much time trying to second guess what other people might do in my position, when actually I already had the answer. So I think it was a good piece of advice and it stuck with me.

Richard Curran: An interesting way of looking at it. And any advice you'd have for someone starting out in a leadership role?

Laura Trimble: The main piece of advice I would have is be yourself. I think that, you know, you're going to have been given that role for a reason. I'm sure there will be lots of attributes that the person brings to the role. There may be other things they need to develop as well, but actually, as long as you have the right mindset about keeping learning, get as much context as you can about the role that you're in and the expectations of you. Be as consistent with your team as you can, and I think learn as you go along. Those would be my my pieces of advice.

Richard Curran: Very well said. Well, Laura Trimble, I hope you're finding enough time to keep up the running and you're able to fit some into that busy schedule. I presume you are.. Laura Trimble of HSBC.. It's been a pleasure talking to you. Thank you very much for joining us.

Laura Trimble: Thank you for having me.

Richard Curran: Well, we hope you're enjoying this EY podcast CEO Outlook Series. Remember, you can catch previous interviews we've done with lots of other CEOs. Until next time. Thanks for listening. Bye bye.