12 October 2026
Festina Finance, a leading European provider of pension administration technology, has appointed Liam McGrath as its first UK CEO, as the company enters the next phase of its growth and long-term investment in the UK market.
Since launching in the UK in 2025, Festina Finance has established a growing local presence, building its team, developing relationships across the industry and establishing its UK headquarters in Manchester.
Liam joins from Procentia, where he was Group CEO, having previously held senior leadership positions including Group COO and CEO EQ Digital at Equiniti Group. He will lead Festina Finance’s UK business as it accelerates growth, expands its customer base and helps pension schemes and administrators respond to the changing demands of pension administration.
Morten Schantz, Founder of Festina Finance, said: “The UK is an important strategic market for us, and we have invested significantly in building the foundations for long-term growth. This appointment marks an important next step as we look to build on that progress, expand our customer base and strengthen our presence across the market.
“Liam brings deep experience of the pensions and technology sectors, together with a strong understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing UK providers. That experience will be invaluable as we continue to develop the business in the UK. We are delighted to have him on board.”
Liam McGrath, UK CEO, Festina Finance, said: “The UK pensions market is entering a period of unprecedented change, with schemes and administrators under growing pressure to modernise their operations, support evolving products and propositions, and meet changing expectations from members and clients. Technology will be central to how the industry responds. Festina Finance has built a fundamentally and uniquely modern, cloud-native platform that brings Defined Contribution, Defined Benefit, Collective Defined Contribution and Life products together in one place, with the flexibility to support new propositions and ways of working.
“The ability to serve every customer and multiple product types on a single platform, rather than relying on separate systems and fragmented technology estates, is a real game changer for UK pensions. Combined with its modular design, configurability and culture of continuous innovation, this is a next-generation system ready to power the next phase of UK pensions. It gives us a compelling proposition and a strong foundation for growth, and I’m looking forward to working with the team to build on the momentum already created.”
Alongside Liam McGrath’s appointment, Dan McLaughlin, who has led Festina Finance’s UK market development since its launch, will become Chief Strategy & Revenue Officer, supporting the company’s wider growth strategy and commercial development.
Festina Finance’s UK expansion forms part of a wider European growth strategy, following a €25+ million investment from Birchway Capital announced in June to accelerate the company’s expansion.
ENDS
