TPT Retirement Solutions, Alecta, AMF, Legal & General, AXA, Association of British Insurers, Polar Capital, BlueBay Asset Management, BTIG, Lombard Odier, SEB

TPT Retirement Solutions – The multi-employer pension fund, previously known as The Pensions Trust, has created a new two-tier board structure. A new management board has been added, reporting to the trustee board, following a “comprehensive review”.

“This new governance structure is designed to improve and speed up decision making, by having professional non-executive directors on the management board with investment, funding and risk management skills,” TPT said in a statement.

David Robertson is chair of the new management board, and is joined by TPT chief executive Mike Ramsey. The three new members are Mike Balfour, former chief executive of Thomas Miller Investment, Richard Coates, formerly of KPMG, and Wendy Mayall, former chief investment officer of Liverpool Victoria. Sarah Smart continues as trustee board chair, a role she has held since 2010. Robertson and Ramsey are co-opted directors on the trustee board. There are three employer-nominated directors – Elizabeth Garner, Colin Small, and Jonathan Wheeler – and three member-nominated directors: Frank Shore, Maggie Rodger, and Richard Stroud.

Alecta – Anders Munk has been appointed as the new chief actuary at Sweden’s Alecta. He comes to the company from his role as chief actuary at AMF, and before that, was chief actuary at KPA Pension.

Legal & General – The insurance and investment giant has made two appointments to its pension risk transfer business. Chris DeMarco has transferred from Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) where he was head of institutional client management. He takes over as managing director of UK pension risk transfer. Costas Yiasoumi has been appointed head of core business, having previously led the bulk annuities operations at Partnership Assurance. Kerrigan Procter, managing director of Legal & General, said defined benefit pension schemes were “increasingly focused on transferring their risk to insurers”, adding that the new appointments would “result in many more market leading and innovative transactions being completed over the coming months and years”.

Legal & General Investment Management – LGIM has hired Anna Troup and Mehdi Guissi for its solutions group. Troup joins from BlueBay Asset Management as head of UK bespoke solutions, while Guissi joins from Lombard Odier and is LGIM’s new head of European bespoke solutions. The solutions group designs multi-asset portfolios for defined benefit, defined contribution, and insurance funds.

AXA Global Asset Management – CEO Véronique Weill is to leave the group “to pursue new professional challenges”. She has worked at AXA for 10 years. As well as CEO for the asset management arm, she is also chief customer officer and a member of the management committee for AXA Group. Paul Evans, CEO of AXA Global Life & Savings and Health, takes on Weill’s asset management responsibilities.

Association of British Insurers (ABI) – Tom McPhail has been elected chair of a cross-industry group focusing on pension and investment transfers. McPhail is head of retirement policy at Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK’s leading investment fund broker, and a noted industry commentator.

McPhail said: “With the demand for the volume of transfers and re-registrations set to increase in future, and ever increasing customer expectations around the timeliness and quality of switching, this is likely to become an increasingly important issue for pension and investment providers.”

The group consists of staff from eight industry trade bodies: the ABI, the Association of Member-Directed Pension Schemes, the Association of Professional Financial Advisers, the British Bankers’ Association, the Investment Association (IA), the Tax Incentivised Savings Association, the UK Platform Group, and the Wealth Management Association. Its chief aim is to speed up and improve the process for individuals to transfer assets from one provider to another. The group is leading a consultation, open until 31 January, on how this process may be improved.

Polar Capital – Tim Wooley is to step down as chief executive in the summer, with Gavin Rochussen joining in July as his successor. The UK investment boutique announced this week that Wooley will take a non-executive role on Polar Capital’s board when Rochussen joins. Rochussen was previously group CEO of JO Hambro Capital Management (JOHCM), but left the company at the end of last year after eight years. He oversaw JOHCM’s growth from £1.5bn of assets under management to £23.9bn.

BlueBay Asset Management – Timothy Ash has joined the London-based asset manager as emerging markets senior sovereign strategist, a newly created role. Ash is to work with Graham Stock, who shares the same job title, and BlueBay’s analyst team. Ash joins from Nomura where he was head of CEEMEA credit strategy.

BTIG – Michael Carley Jr has been appointed director of fixed income credit at the American financial broker and asset manager. He joins from investment bank Jefferies. Drew Doscher, managing director and head of fixed income credit at BTIG, said the firm would continue to grow the team. 

Lombard Odier – Annika Falkengren, CEO of SEB, is to join Lombard Odier as a managing partner in July. Denis Pittet has also been appointed managing partner this month, having worked for Lombard Odier for more than 20 years. At the same time, Anne-Marie de Weck is to retire from her managing partner position after 20 years at the group. 

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