How PCF appointments are made: external hires, deputies and what comes next
Three in four PCF appointments in Ireland go to someone from outside the firm. Nexus Search checked every PCF appointment in its network against the person's previous role. Only 25% were promotions within the same firm.
External hiring is the norm
PCF role | Internal appointments |
CEO | 29% |
Head of Compliance | 26% |
Head of AML/CTF | 26% |
Head of Finance | 26% |
CRO | 22% |
The share is almost the same for a person's first PCF role (26%), so firms are not only hiring experienced PCF holders from outside. Banks promote from within most, at 30%. Among EMIs, PIs, insurers and funds firms the figure sits between 26% and 27%.
Deputies rarely succeed their own boss
About a quarter of professionals who held a deputy role later became PCF holders, typically two and a half years later. Only 10% of them stepped up at the same firm. The rest took a PCF role elsewhere.
The group is smaller, but it matches the wider pattern. A deputy is more likely to become another firm's PCF than their own firm's. For boards that rely on a deputy as the succession plan, it is worth testing whether that person would take the role, and whether the Central Bank would see them as ready.
PCF holders move job to job
Half of PCF holders who changed firm started their next role within a month. Only 11% had a gap of more than six months. Most professionals considering a PCF move are in a role when they make it.
What happens when a PCF role ends
When a PCF role ended, 31% of moves were into a PCF role at another firm and 27% into a non-PCF role at another firm. 17% were moves within the same firm, 8% were out of financial services and 14% have no later role recorded.
So leaving a PCF role often means stepping back from one, at least for a while. Heads of Compliance were the most likely to go straight into another PCF (43%). CROs were the most likely to leave financial services altogether (17%).
Former staff come back
22% of professionals in the network returned to a former employer at some point. The rate is the same for PCF holders, and a quarter of those who returned did so in a PCF role. Alumni are a real source of PCF hires.
About the data
Career histories across the entire Nexus Search network, data to February 2026. One network, not every PCF holder in Ireland. The full method is in the report.
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