Twenty-six years after beginning his career in finance, Chris Johns is taking his leave from global giant State Street.

Cardiff-born Johns started his first job in the sector on April Fools Day, but it was no joke, as it turned out.

The seasoned executive says he has no intention of leaving finance behind after leaving the day job, planning to take up an advisory role in State Street until the end of the year and possibly making a return to financial journalism.

A former contributor to The Irish Times, Johns established the paper’s regular columns London Briefing and Serious Money, both of which continue.

“I’m going to do the middle-aged clichéd thing of collecting a portfolio of activities. It is extremely unlikely I will be in full-time paid employment again.”

Johns joined State Street Global Advisors seven years ago when it was still Bank of Ireland Asset Management, taking on various roles including head of global markets, chief investment officer and interim chief executive.

The chief executive stint at Bank of Ireland Asset Management came when then chief executive Mick Sweeney was moved upstairs to a group role as the financial crisis unfolded.

In recent times, he has been in charge of all of SSgA’s fundamental equities.

Senior managing director Barry Galvin will take up the chief investment officer role at SSgA’s Active Fundamental Equities business, following Johns’s retirement.

A letter from State Street’s chief investment officer Rick Lacaille, indicates that he has been pleased with SSgA’s performance during Johns’s tenure.

“We have continued to build on our fundamental equity capabilities since our acquisition of BIAM in 2011 and I am proud of the strong performance we have achieved,” he wrote.

We wish Johns luck.