BCSSS, Standard Life, Columbia Threadneedle Investments, FRC, HM Treasury, Fidelity International, Barnett Waddingham, Norli, Alecta, LPPI
Financial Reporting Council (FRC) – Richard Moriarty has been announced as the chief executive officer of the FRC. He replaces Jon Thompson, who has led the FRC since 2019.
The Council promotes transparency and integrity in business. It regulates auditors, accountants and actuaries, and sets the UK’s Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes. Moriarty will continue the work started by Thompson to transform the FRC into a new regulator – the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority.
Moriarty said: “The FRC has a critical role to play in underpinning investor and public confidence in financial reporting and corporate governance in the UK. It is a privilege to be asked to lead the organisation at this important time and oversee its successful transformation into the new Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority.”
He added: “I want the organisation to be ambitious for how effectively it engages with all those who have an interest in its purpose and its place in supporting the UK as a great place for business growth and investment.”
Moriarty recently stepped down from the board of the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) where he served as CEO for five years and deputy CEO for two years. Under his leadership the CAA earned positive recognition from independent reviews, both nationally and internationally, as a highly effective and world-leading regulatory authority.
Among his roles, Moriarty has been CEO of the Legal Services Board, an executive director and subsequently deputy chair of the Social Housing Regulator, deputy CEO of a communications regulator and a director of a regulated water company. He is currently a non-executive and the senior independent director with a social housing association charity.
Norli Pension – Søren Andersen has been appointed group CEO of the Norli Group, the Danish pensions group specialising in traditional guaranteed pension schemes, which owns two life insurance companies – Norli Pension and Norli Liv & Pension.
Andersen, who took up the new role on Tuesday, was most recently a pensions consultant with his own firm FPension as well as appointed actuary at ISP, the Pension Fund for Technicians and Bachelors of Engineering.
Mikkel Dahl, who has been Norli Pension’s CEO since the beginning of 2020, is to continue in his role until 31 May 2024, while Claude Reffs, the CEO of Norli Liv & Pension, will retain his role.
Andersen said he will be giving up all his FPension activities, as well as his ISP Pension role, for which ISP is currently looking for a replacement.
In a post on LinkedIn, Andersen said that although sad to say goodbye to the role of adviser to pension companies, he was looking forward to starting at Norli.
“I think there is something right about the idea of trying to consolidate the old traditional guaranteed pension products. In my view, it is not in the interest of either customers or pension companies that each firm has to use its focus and costs on maintaining the old products,” he said.
If the old products could instead be consolidated, this should both create great synergies and free up energy in the pension industry to focus on the modern market-rate products, Andersen said.
HM Treasury – The UK’s Financial Secretary to the Treasury has appointed Fiona Dunsire as the new government actuary on a five-year fixed-term appointment.
Dunsire has 35 years of actuarial experience in the private sector in a variety of roles in pensions and investments, including as UK CEO of Mercer from 2012 to 2019. She has been a fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries since 1993.
Dunsire will be the first female government actuary since the role was created in 1917. She will take up the appointment following the retirement later this year of Martin Clarke, who has been the government actuary since 2014.
Local Pensions Partnership Investments (LPPI) – The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) investment pool, which provides a full discretionary asset management model for the stewardship of its clients’ assets, has appointed Jon Little as its new chair of the board.
Little will help LPPI implement the next phase of its strategic growth journey through driving further innovation and collaboration across the industry to fully realise the potential of LGPS pooling. Additionally, he will support LPPI’s commitments around responsible investment and net zero.
Little’s tenure as chair commenced on 1 August 2023, after a transition period completed with outgoing chair, Sally Bridgeland, who has held the position of chair since 2015.
Alecta – Erik Kaukas has been appointed as a new portfolio manager at Swedish pension provider Alecta, within fixed income and credit. Kaukas worked in investment banking at Carnegie Investment Bank until July, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Before that he worked at Nordea for two and a half years, latterly as investment banking associate within leveraged finance.
Fidelity International – Jenn-Hui Tan, previously global head of stewardship and sustainable investing at Fidelity International, has been appointed to the newly-created position of chief sustainability officer (CSO).
The role will have oversight of both Fidelity’s sustainable investing and corporate sustainability teams to ensure consistent, end-to-end governance of the firm’s sustainable approach across its corporate operations and client service areas – including investment management, advisory and personal investment platform services, and retirement solutions.
In his capacity as CSO, Tan will be responsible for the delivery of Fidelity’s sustainability approach and be the accountable executive for the firm’s strategy, execution, and governance in this area. He will retain management of the sustainable investing team, with the corporate sustainability team moving to report to him.
Tan joined Fidelity in 2007 from Norton Rose Fulbright, where he was a corporate finance lawyer advising on capital market and M&A transactions.
British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme (BCSSS) – The scheme has announced the appointment of Cheryl Agius as a trustee director and chair of the scheme, effective from 21 September 2023.
Agius will join the scheme’s trustee board, which is made up of four independent trustees and four trustees elected by the membership. She will take over from current chair, Kate Barker, who steps down after nine years as chair.
Agius is currently a non-executive director of two Aviva Life boards. She has had an extensive career in pensions and insurance, most notably within roles at Legal & General as the CEO of its general insurance business, and prior to that as its UK strategic retirement director.
Barnett Waddingham – The consultancy has bolstered its public sector business by appointing Chris Morton as associate and senior consulting actuary.
Morton has worked in pensions and wider employee benefits for over 22 years. He advises Local Government Pension Funds, police and fire authorities and other not-for-profit organisations, and has previously advised occupational pension scheme trustees and corporate employers in the private sector.
In addition to Morton joining the team, Roisin McGuire, following 16 years of service, has been promoted to principal, while Matthew Paton and Liam Drysdale have both been promoted to associate.
Standard Life – The firm has appointed Callum Stewart as head of investment proposition distribution. His appointment highlights the strengthening of the investment solutions team and Standard Life’s focus on sustainable investing solutions.
Stewart and his team will provide dedicated investment solutions expertise for Standard Life’s workplace business and will be responsible for taking its investment proposition to market, while further developing relationships with clients and advisers across the workplace pension market.
Stewart joins Standard Life from Hyman Robertson, where he most recently was head of defined contribution (DC) investment, specialising in pension funding and investment. In that role he spearheaded the integration of climate and sustainability into the company’s investment proposition and pioneered the ‘10-10-10’ rule of thumb for considering potential benefits from illiquid investments for members. He also supported the industry-wide Productive Finance Working Groups in the production of their guides for assessing value, including illiquid investments.
The new appointment, Columbia Threadneedle said, supports the firm’s aim of deepening relationships with institutional investors and delivering on their needs. As part of her role, Singh will focus on raising capital for new and existing clients across alternatives, in partnership with global distribution.
Singh joins from New End Associates, where she worked since 2020 as an alternatives capital raiser to institutional clients, particularly in real assets. She also has previous capital-raising and investment experience working for Octopus Investments, First Avenue Partners, CDC Group and Morgan Stanley.
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