Mark Versey is taking over from Euan Munro as chief executive officer of Aviva Investors, it was announced this morning.

Versey has been chief investment officer of Aviva Investors’ real assets business and assumes his new role with immediate effect, subject to regulatory approval. After seven years as CEO of now £355bn (€389m) Aviva Investors, Munro will take up a role outside of Aviva, the company said.

Versey will join Aviva’s group executive committee, reporting to Aviva Group CEO Amanda Blanc. He joined the asset manager in 2014 and led the real assets platform since its creation in 2018. It has grown from £37bn to £47bn today.

Versey joined Aviva from Friends Life Group, where he was chief investment officer of the group and managing director of their in-house asset manager, Friends Life Investments. He was previously CIO of AXA UK.

He sits on the investment committee of trade body the Investment Association and chairs its sustainability and responsible investment. Aviva Investors is among leaders in responsible investing.

“Mark is the leader that Aviva Investors needs to take it forward,” Blanc said. “Aviva Investors is a core part of Aviva and its investment capabilities are critical to our ambition to be the UK’s leading insurer.

“I have been impressed with Mark’s determination to strengthen Aviva Investors, deliver excellent investment performance and extend our leadership in responsible investing.”

Munro left with Aviva’s best wishes for the next stage of his career, Blanc added.

Versey said his overriding priority would be “to provide our customers with strong and consistent investment performance to deliver the outcomes they are looking for, including meeting net-zero emission targets through sustainable investments”.

“We have a significant opportunity at Aviva Investors to grow the business organically and help Aviva meet its ambitions in the UK,” he added.

According to IPE’s Top 500 Asset Managers, Aviva Investors had €39.8bn in assets under management for external European institutional clients as at end-December 2019, of which €34.2bn was for pension funds.

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