Nordea Asset Management has hired Briton Mark Lovett as its equity CIO, a role that will see him head one of four new units it set up in January.

Lovett will relocate to Copenhagen and take up the job no later than 17 August, according to Nordea, the Nordic and Baltic banking group of which Nordea Asset Management is a part.

A spokesman said Lovett’s job will involve much travelling around the Nordic countries.

Christian Hyldahl, head of Nordea Asset Management, said: “I am glad that we have been able to recruit Mark who has extensive experience within equities and the European asset management industry as well as cross-border management experience.”

He will take over from Hyldahl, who has been covering the equities role during the recruitment process.

Hyldahl himself took over the top job at the subsidiary in April following the departure of his predecessor Alan Pollack, who left to become chief executive of pension provider PFA.

As the new equity CIO, Lovett will be joining Nordea Asset Management’s senior executive management.

He will be in charge of its five equity boutiques, private equity and responsible investments, Nordea said.

His most recent job was head of equities and deputy chief investment officer at Ignis Asset Management in the UK, a firm which was bought by Standard Life last year. 

Before that he was at Allianz Global Investors as co-CIO for European equities and a member of the European management group responsible for the firm’s equity platform.

Hyldahl said Lovett would help the business develop its single boutiques as well as the cooperation between boutiques, in order to produce strong investment performance over the long-term, he said.

Nordea said Lovett’s role was created in January, when the investment organisation was split into four units.

Nordea Asset Management is the biggest asset manager in the Nordics with €191bn under management at the end of June 2015.

At group level, Nordea Bank today announced it’s chief executive Christian Clausen is stepping down after more than eight years in the role.

He will be replaced by Casper von Koskull, who will become the group’s new president and group chief executive.

Torsten Hagen Jørgensen has been appointed as the new group COO and deputy group chief executive.

The changes come into effect on 1 November, with Clausen continuing in an advisory role until the end of 2016, when he will retire, Nordea said.

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