LD, Sampension, PME, Delta Lloyd, Lombard Odier IM, Vanguard, PwC, FCA, Robeco, WisdomTree, Mirae Asset, BlueBay, Montae, Altis

LD/Sampension – Charlotte Mark has been appointed as the new finance director at Denmark’s Lønmodtagernes Dyrtidsfond (LD), and will start the job on 1 September. She is replacing Lars Wallberg who has now left the pension fund to be chief executive of Norliv, the company collectively owned by Nordea Life & Pension Denmark customers.

Mark is currently head of equities and alternatives at Sampension, where she has worked for 16 years. Sampension said it had started the process of recruiting a replacement. In her new role at LD, Mark will be responsible for the investment of LD’s DKK43bn (€5.8bn) of assets and will also be head of the pension fund’s financial operations.

PME – Roos Vermeij has been appointed as executive trustee at the €45bn PME, the pension fund for the metal and electro-technical engineering industry. Vermeij will be tasked with pensions and social security in the three-strong team of Eric Uijen (chairman) and Marcel Andringa (asset management). Vermeij was an MP for the Dutch Labour party (PvdA) from 2006 until March, and was the party’s spokesperson for pensions and social security. Prior to this, she was a director at TransLink Systems, the company which developed the Oyster Card travel payment system in the Netherlands. Vermeij succeeds Mariëtte Simons, who was recently appointed on the board of the €187bn healthcare pension fund PFZW.

Delta Lloyd AM – Jacco Maters, chief executive and CIO at Delta Lloyd Asset Management, has left the company, which was recently taken over by NN Group. Satish Bapat, CEO of NN Investment Partners, has also become chief executive of Delta Lloyd AM, as both asset managers are to be merged.

Rob van Mazijk, chief operations officer at Delta Lloyd, will stay on until year-end as a special adviser to Bob Overbeek, NN IP’s COO. During the integration process, Van Mazijk is to contribute to continuity and stability at Delta Lloyd. Anticipating the merger, several management staff have left Delta Lloyd AM. Arnold Gast, head of the investment office, departed last month. Chief risk officer Jelle Ritzerveld will leave as of 1 August.

Lombard Odier Investment Managers – Lombard Odier IM has hired Ritesh Bamania as head of solutions for institutional clients. He joins from Mercer where he was a senior investment consultant. He has also worked at UBS Global Asset Management and Willis Towers Watson. Carolina Minio-Paluello, global head of sales and solutions at Lombard Odier IM, said “A solutions-based approach has never been more important to help investors meet their complex objectives.”

Vanguard – Thomas Merz has been named head of European distribution ex-UK, a newly created role, at Vanguard, the giant passive fund manager. He is based in Zurich and joins from UBS Global Asset Management, where he was head of exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

PwC – The accounting and consultancy giant has hired Marcus Fink to its pensions legal team. He joins from Ashurst where he led the pensions practice. In a statement, PwC said Fink had “particular experience in pensions investment matters, particularly negotiating and overseeing derivative and hedging investments, implementing asset-backed funding vehicles”.

Financial Conduct Authority – Anne Richards has been appointed chair of the UK regulator’s Practitioner Panel from 1 August. She is chief executive at M&G, a position she took on a year ago. The Practitioner Panel providers feedback on policy and regulations from regulated firms to the Financial Conduct Authority. In addition, John Trundle has been named chair of the Markets Practitioner Panel. He is CEO of Euroclear UK & Ireland.

Robeco – The Dutch asset manager has appointed Ralph van Daalen as a member of its institutional relations team, starting on 1 August. Van Daalen, who has more than 14 years experience in the financial sector, will focus on extending Robeco’s domestic operations, in particular pension funds and insurance companies. He will report to Hilko de Brouwer, who has recently been appointed head of institutional relations in the Netherlands and the Nordics. Van Daalen joins from BMO Global Asset Management, where he was responsible for institutional sales in the Netherlands. Prior to this, he was senior investment adviser for pension funds at Willis Towers Watson.

WisdomTree – The US ETF provider has named Alexis Marinof as head of European distribution. He was formerly head of State Street Global Advisors’ SPDR ETF business for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and held a number of other senior roles at the company. He replaces Morgan Lee, who has transferred to the US to lead WisdomTree’s distribution on the west coast of the country.

David Abner, head of Europe at WisdomTree, said: “Alexis brings exceptional industry knowledge from his experience at State Street Global Advisors, where he managed all aspects of the EMEA ETF business across a diverse client base. I look forward to Alexis’s contributions as part of our ongoing efforts to expand and deepen the relationships we have across our diverse pan-European investors and traders.”

Mirae Asset – The specialist Asian investment group has hired Christina Eriksson as its head of Nordic sales. She was previously at Investec Asset Management where she worked on sales in the Nordics and Switzerland. Mirae Asset said Eriksson would be responsible for the distribution of “investment solutions”.

BlueBay Asset Management – The specialist fixed income manager has hired Zhenbo Hou to its emerging markets research team. He was previously senior officer for macroeconomic research at the Bank of China. The appointment comes as China attempts to open up its fixed income markets through the establishment of Bond Connect, a trading link between Hong Kong and mainland China.

Montae – Vandena van der Meer has become a partner at Dutch consultant Montae, responsible for advice to employers and works councils. Van der Meer has been a senior adviser at Rijswijk-based Montae since 2012. Prior to this, she worked as pensions consultant at PwC.

Altis Investments – NN IP’s subsidiary for manager selection and monitoring has appointed Maarten Roth, Benoit Jacquemont, and Danny Wemmenhove as new team members. As of 1 September, Roth is to start as senior portfolio manager for equities in The Hague. He joined from Blue Sky Group and also worked at ING and Rabobank. Jacquemont has already started as senior portfolio manager for fixed income in The Hague. Previously, he has been employed by Cardano, Deloitte and State Street. Wemmenhove has also started as portfolio manager for equities, based in Switzerland. He has worked at the asset managers PGGM and Actiam.

Topics