Hermes Investment Management, Ethos Services, Invesco, BpfBouw, Martin Currie, Natixis Investment Managers, Gresham House, Nuveen, Fulcrum Asset Management, Schroders, Sycomore Asset Management, Research Affiliates, BNY Mellon

Hermes Investment Management – Magnus Kristensen has moved to the fund manager, which was partially sold to Federated Investors in April this year, as director of business development for the Nordic region.

Kristensen joins from Jyske Bank, where he had numerous responsibilities, including overseeing client acquisitions and maintenance, as well as leading a team of client relations managers.

Hermes, which has £33.6bn (€38.2bn) of funds under management and was formerly majority owned by BT Pension Scheme, said Kristensen would help to expand the business throughout the Nordic region, a core market for the company.

Ethos Services/Ethos Foundation – The Swiss proxy voting service Ethos has confirmed two new chairs for for the two parts of its business. Rudolf Rechsteiner was elected to chair the Ethos Foundation, while Beth Krasna was appointed chair of Ethos Services.

The pair replace Dominique Biedermann, who previously held both roles but chose not to stand for re-election. He has worked for Ethos – which is wholly owned by Swiss pension funds – for 21 years.

Biedermann had been criticised recently because his wife Yola is head of Ethos’ corporate governance department. The perceived “shortcomings in corporate governance” had led one pension fund to quit Ethos. It has indicated it could reverse this decision after Beidermann’s exit.

Invesco – The Atlanta-headquartered investment management group has boosted its Nordic sales team with the appointment of two senior sales managers. Stefan Behring has been appointed head of Nordics institutional sales and Matthias Hagen will join on 18 June as head of retail sales.

Invesco said the hires further cemented the expansion of both the institutional and retail arms in the region. Behring joins from JP Morgan, where he was client adviser and executive director, while Hagen joins from Goldman Sachs, where he was executive director for third party distribution for the Nordic region.

BpfBouw – The €56bn pension fund for the building sector has appointed Annemarie de Beun as co-head of its administrative bureau. David van As, who has headed the bureau since 2011, is to become general director.

De Beun, who was the bureau’s secretary, is to continue as operational manager. She joined BpfBouw in 2017 from the €8.8bn pension fund for disabled workers in a sheltered environment (PWRI), where she was temporary director since the departure of Frans Prins at the end of 2016.

Martin Currie – Julian Ide has joined the active equity specialist as head of distribution and strategy with a brief to broaden the company’s global distribution capability across geographies and solutions. Ide was formerly CEO of Source ETF, which was bought by Invesco last year, and also previously led Old Mutual Global Investors as chief executive.

Martin Currie said that Ide, who has also held senior positions at Credit Suisse and ABN Amro, will have “responsibility for developing our forward strategy” alongside CEO Willie Watt.

Natixis Investment Managers – The asset management arm of the French corporate and investment bank has appointed Sebastian Römer as head of sales for central and eastern Europe (CEE). He also has a brief to focus on Germany, Austria, Switzerland.

Römer joins Natixis from PIMCO, where he was responsible for institutional clients in Germany. He previously worked for private equity firm Apax Partners, and started his career at McKinsey & Co in Zurich.

Gresham House – Heather Fleming has joined the specialist alternatives asset manager in a newly created position of head of institutional business. Formerly at Fidelity International as head of institutional distribution for UK and Ireland, Fleming will initially focus on Gresham’s British Strategic Investment Fund, with a further remit to look into developing the company’s institutional offering and fundraising capabilities.

The British Strategic Investment Fund was launched last year with the Berkshire Pension Fund as a cornerstone investor. Berkshire also owns a 20% stake in Gresham House.

Nuveen – Rune Sanbeck has joined the investment management arm of TIAA, the US asset manager, as head of international advisory services for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Reporting to John Panagakis, the firm’s global head of international advisory services, Sanbeck will lead Nuveen’s push across the EMEA region. He joins the firm from Dimensional Fund Advisors, where he was head of the Nordic region for institutional business, iShares and retail. 

Fulcrum Asset Management – The multi-asset investment group, which oversees £4.4bn of assets, has appointed Chris Gower as director of global consultants and pension funds. Briefed to bolster Fulcrum’s relationships with consultants and pension funds on a global basis, Gower joins the firm from First State Investments where he had served as EMEA head of client and consultant relations. He had previously worked for HSBC Global Asset Management, Lane Clark & Peacock and Aon Consulting.

Schroders – The global investment manager has moved to bolster its solutions business with the appointment of Patrick O’Sullivan as a strategist based in London and the transfer of solutions manager Edward Studd to New York.

O’Sullivan, previously a portfolio strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management, will report to Neil Walton, head of investment solutions. Studd, who will work under Seth Finkelstein, head of US portfolio solutions, will focus on developing risk-managed solutions for North American pension clients.

Sycomore Asset Management – Francesca Mozzati has joined the boutique investment house as head of institutional sales. She will be responsible for developing the company’s presence in southern Europe, with a particular focus on Italy. She was previously part of the marketing team at French bank BPCE, and has also wored at Natixis where she was head of equity sales for Italy for 12 years.

Research Affiliates – The smart beta and asset allocation company has bolstered its social responsibility and governance team with the appointment of Alex Edmans, a professor at London Business School, as an adviser. In his new role, Edmans will work in particular on developing implementation tools for environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) strategies.

Edmans will retain his affiliation with the London Business School and remain as editor of The Review of Finance and a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research think-tank.

BNY Mellon – The investment services giant has hired Stephan Koschmieder has joined the company as head of business development for the Germany, Austria and CEE region. In this newly created role, based in Frankfurt, he is responsible for growing the company’s custody, depositary and fund accounting services.

He was previously at Euroclear where he worked for 11 years, latterly as director and unit head for sales and relationship management. 

BNY Mellon also recently hired Katherine Starks as head of asset servicing for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the CEE region. Dennis Presburg, head of asset servicing business development for northern Europe, said increasing BNY Mellon’s presence in Germany was a “key strategic priority” for the group.

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