Niall Byrne, CFO of QIA (Qatar Investment Authority), the country’s investment fund, spoke from Doha about his two-year term and his focus on transforming QIA’s finance function to support growth. Founded in 2005 with the goal of creating long-term value, QIA invests in nine sectors: retail and consumer; technology, media and telecommunications (TMT); liquid securities; infrastructure; finance; funds; health care; industries; and real estate. QIA holds $526 billion in total assets, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.
Global finance: When you took on the role of CFO at QIA at the end of 2022, what were your initial areas of focus?
Niall Byrne: When I joined in 2022, QIA was a very well established organization with a strong finance team. We have embarked on a journey of transformation to create a state-of-the-art finance function that will hopefully serve QIA for many years to come.
What I want to do is put in place a function, a team, technology systems, operations that can support QIA’s future growth. Get the right technology in place that is scalable and can handle the growing size and complexity of everything.
We are migrating our core accounting and investment platforms to a best-in-class front-to-back solution, and this is a huge project for QIA. It doesn’t just impact the finance function, it impacts all investment teams across the organization.
Then I need to create time for my team to do new things that add new value to QIA as an organization. And it’s not about cutting costs. In fact, my team has grown since I arrived and I expect it to continue to grow. Now it’s just over 80 people and I expect it to grow to probably north of 100 over the next few years.
GF: Where have you been most successful at QIA so far?
Byrne: The journey of technology is probably the most complex part of what is happening right now. And we’ve already had some success there. It is a journey of many years. Starting in 2025, we will have a basic accounting platform in place. And then we’ll add things that will be much more visible to the investment teams, like how we report on performance. Of course, we already have a performance management system, but we will have a new cloud-based system.
GF: Are there any security concerns about moving to the cloud?
Byrne: Of course, this is always the focus of any organization. We follow best practices when it comes to the security we require from our vendors. We do this in a measured, considered way, making sure it meets all our requirements and doesn’t compromise the security of any of our data.
GF: What are QIA’s key areas of focus for investment in terms of geographies and industries?
Byrne: Our mission is to protect and develop the state’s financial assets and help diversify the local economy. We invest on a global scale, across different sectors, geographies and build strong partnerships with our investees, because we are a long-term investor, we are able to do that. We have a diversified investment approach and really focus on sectors that we think will shape the future global economy, such as technology, healthcare and solutions that drive the energy transition.
GF: What have been your best and worst moments during your career as a financial manager?
Byrne: I would say the best is coming to QIA. I have worked in many different roles throughout my career. I was at JPMorgan Chase for a long time. I have worked in front-office and support functions, in different locations, in different businesses. At QIA, I have the opportunity to bring it all together, to use all of my experience and really deliver value at a level that can positively impact the entire organization. It’s great to be able to do that in such a complex role as I have here, and everything I’ve done before has pretty much prepared me for this role.
Leaving JPMorgan after 25 years was obviously a big step for me and my family. I wanted a new challenge, a new organization, a new group of colleagues, a new country and region.
The worst moments involve recognizing when a role isn’t providing the expected challenge and taking action to fix it. And that doesn’t sound like a bad moment, but those moments are actually quite challenging because you have to realize that you’re in that situation and then take steps to resolve it.
GF: What advice can you give to a young person who aspires to a career as a CFO?
Byrne: If you’re starting out knowing you want to be a CFO, it’s great to be clear about that. First, invest in yourself. I would also be flexible: you can have a plan, but you have to adjust your plan as opportunities arise. If something else comes along, embrace it because over time you’ll build up a portfolio of experiences that will make you a stronger candidate for bigger and more complex roles. In general, building a portfolio of experience is really important. I would also say be confident even if you are just starting out. Be confident in your abilities but stay humble, ask lots of questions. Admit that it’s okay to make mistakes when you don’t know something, but learn from your mistakes. Probably the most important thing of all is to just do things that you enjoy, that you get satisfaction from because you do your best work when you love what you do.