Financial Services Leadership Insights | Charlotte Rooney

Could you tell us about your practice and areas of focus?  

I lead Page Executive’s Financial Services practice, recruiting senior finance, treasury, regulatory and risk leaders across banking, fintech, asset management, private credit and trading. My work centers on finance transformation, regulation, technology and commercial growth, partnering with Csuites and HR to build leadership teams for complex, highpressure environments.

What kinds of roles do you typically recruit for?

I focus on senior and executive hires such as CFOs, Deputy CFOs, Controllers/CAOs, Treasury & ALM leaders, Heads of Regulatory Reporting, FP&A leaders and finance transformation executives. I recruit across global banks, fintechs, brokerdealers, crypto firms, asset managers, private credit and trading infrastructure.

What changes in the industry have had the most significant impact on your work?

Three major shifts have fundamentally reshaped executive hiring in financial services:

1. Return-to-office: Firms have tightened hybrid policies, making candidates more selective and slowing processes as companies prioritize cultural and longterm fit.
2. Regulatory evolution: A move toward lighter, more streamlined frameworks is shifting demand from pure reporting roles to commercially minded finance and risk leaders with strong governance.
3. Technology acceleration: Finance has become a real-time, data-driven function. CFOs now need predictive analytics, automation and transformation experience.

Collectively, these trends have elevated CFOs into strategic operators, commercial partners to the CEO, stewards of capital, drivers of transformation and critical architects of business performance. That evolution is reshaping every executive search we undertake. 

What are some emerging roles or skills that employers are increasingly seeking? 

We are seeing strong demand for:

• Finance leaders with data & analytics capability
• CFOs and Controllers with systems transformation experience
• Treasury leaders focused on liquidity optimization and capital efficiency
• Regulatory leaders who can operate in a lighter-touch regulatory environment
• Finance executives with crypto, digital assets, and trading exposure
• FP&A leaders who can model volatility and scenario risk

The future finance leader sits at the intersection of finance, technology, risk and strategy. 

What’s the biggest mistake companies make in their hiring process? 

Moving too slowly and underestimating the importance of the candidate experience.

Senior candidates are often engaged in multiple conversations simultaneously, and delays in feedback, interview scheduling, or decision-making frequently result in lost candidates, failed searches, and increased counteroffers. In today’s competitive market, speed and decisiveness are genuine competitive advantages.

Equally important is the quality of the candidate experience. Executive candidates are assessing an organization just as closely as the organization is assessing them. A process that feels impersonal, disjointed, or overly transactional can quickly damage an employer’s brand and deter high-caliber leaders. 

Warm, well-structured and well-communicated processes create momentum and trust. Candidates want to feel valued, respected and informed throughout the journey.  

Why did you get into recruitment, and why is recruitment important to you?

After 18 years with Page Group what continues to motivate me is the impact that the right hire can have on an organization.

At executive level, recruitment is never just about filling a role. The right appointment can shape strategy, transform performance, strengthen culture and elevate an entire leadership team. Equally, the right move can be career-defining for an individual.

I enjoy the intellectual challenge of understanding a client´s business, the nuances of a leadership role, the ambitions of a candidate, and then bringing those elements together in a way that creates long-term value for both sides.

Above all, recruitment is about people. I enjoy working with people. I listen carefully, build trusted relationships, and work in close partnership with both clients and candidates to deliver outcomes that go far beyond a single hire.

That combination of strategic impact, problem-solving and human connection is what makes recruitment both challenging and deeply rewarding for me.