Member story: Karen Toh, Director of Group Finance, IG

1. Please provide a brief overview of your career to date

I’m the Director of Group Finance at IG Group, an international FTSE250 financial services organisation, heading up the Group Treasury, Group Reporting, Group Tax and Investor Relations functions.

Prior to joining IG I was the Group Treasurer for the Grosvenor Group and my previous experience includes corporate finance at Rio Tinto, and diverse roles at Royal Dutch Shell including in corporate treasury, M&A, finance and the business.

I’ve been fortunate to have lived or worked internationally through-out my career and have loved being able to do so.

2. What attracted you to your current role?

The opportunity to broaden out further within the finance space, take on more responsibility and to gain experience in a new industry.

3. What do you like about working in treasury?

Being able to have a positive impact and make a difference in supporting an organisation achieve its objectives using skills, relationships, knowledge and experience in areas that I find interesting and challenging.

4. What is the biggest difference between your previous treasury role and your finance role now?

So much has changed! It was a new company, a new industry, additional functions to come up to speed on, a wider range of stakeholders and a new culture in an organisation undergoing significant change under the leadership of a new CEO. It has been all the more exciting and beneficial for it, though the first few months did very much feel like trying to drink out of a fire hydrant!

5. What has been the most exciting/interesting project you have worked on?

I feel lucky to have been involved in many exciting and interesting projects through out my career. Two that come to mind are working on the project financing for a large copper/gold mine in Mongolia and the merger of Royal Dutch with Shell Transport and Trading, creating Royal Dutch Shell plc.

6. What lessons have your learnt from a project that didn’t go as planned?

Allow time for stakeholder buy-in and for staff to connect emotionally with the case for change, particularly for large transformation projects – being rationale, considered and logical is not necessarily sufficient. Thankfully the transformation project was still a success.

7. What member benefits do you use the most?

The ACT is a great organisation and I very much enjoy being part of it. I value the opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas relevant to the treasury space at the various events.  

8. What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

People will remember how you made them feel, well after they have forgotten what you did or delivered on. Invest time in building long term relationships built on credibility and trust – these will stay with you throughout your career.

9. What book are you reading at the moment?

Jordan Peterson’s “12 Rules for Life”.

10. Who is your career hero?

Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister of Singapore for his foresight, courage and championing of meritocracy and diversity long before the latter received focus globally.

Under his leadership Singapore transformed from a developing third world country to a developed first world country within a generation.