PPF, Barclays, RPMI Railpen, Aviva Investors, Willis Towers Watson, BlackRock, Prudential, AustralianSuper, PASA, Pensions Dashboard, HQ Capital, Muzinich & Co, Baring Asset Management, Macquarie Investment Management, Columbia Threadneedle, Spence Johnson, Deloitte, PhaseCapital, AllianceBernstein, River and Mercantile Asset Management

Pension Protection Fund (PPF) – The UK lifeboat scheme has created a new role in connection with its move to increase internal investment management, appointing former Barclays banker Ian Scott as head of investment strategy. Scott has worked for more than 20 years on the sell side, most recently at Barclays, as head of the global equity strategy team. Before that, he was at Lehman Brothers and Nomura.

RPMI Railpen – Anna Rule has been appointed to the new role of head of property as the scheme looks to increase its in-house investment capabilities. Rule, a senior director and fund manager at Aviva Investors, will take up the position in the new year. Railpen, which manages the £24bn (€27.9bn) Railways Pension Scheme in the UK, has been shifting towards more in-house investments.

Willis Towers Watson – Ashwin Belur and Dhiran Dookhi have been appointed to the Insurance Investment Solutions Group. Belur joins from BlackRock and before then held a variety of senior investment and insurance-related positions at Goldman Sachs, ABN AMRO and Brit Insurance. Dookhi is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and joins from Prudential, where he was a risk actuary working on enterprise risk management.

AustralianSuper – Australia’s largest super fund has formally established a presence in London, opening an office in King’s Cross. Trish Curry leads the team. AustralianSuper’s head of external relations, Stephen McMahon, told IPE Real Estate the fund was basing staff in London because of AustralianSuper’s increasing involvement in direct investments, “particularly global property and infrastructure deals”.

Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA) – The independent body dedicated to driving up standards in pensions administration has announced that its chairman, Margaret Snowdon OBE, has been appointed by HM Treasury to the senior level Steering Group for the Pensions Dashboard prototype project. Snowdon will be one of two independent members of the Steering Group, representing the pensions industry.

HQ Capital – Georg Wunderlin has been appointed chief executive at the alternatives asset manager, while Ernest Boles has taken on the role of vice-chairman of executive management. Marcel Giacometti is to become a senior adviser. Wunderlin, who has been working at HQ Capital and its predecessor companies since 2012, succeeds Boles, who will continue to advise HQ Capital on its operations.

Muzinich & Co – Tracy Zhao, who previously worked for Aozora Asia Pacific Finance, has joined as a credit analyst on Muzinich’s Asia investment team. She is based in London. Global high-yield specialist Kashif Riaz has joined from Baring Asset Management, where he covered a range of sectors. Prior to Barings, he was lead credit analyst for the European TMT and utilities sectors at BlackRock. He is also based in London.

Macquarie Investment Management – Markus Rottler has been appointed as head of distribution for the German professional buyer market. Prior to joining Macquarie, Rottler spent five years at Columbia Threadneedle, focusing on the professional buyer and institutional client segments. Before then, he spent seven years at Pioneer Investments.

Spence Johnson – The data analytics and market intelligence consultancy focused on institutional asset management has hired Thomas Marsh to help grow and serve its US business. He joins from Deloitte and has 23 years of experience in asset management, primarily as a director at Cerulli Associates.

PhaseCapital – Michael DePalma has been appointed chief executive at the Boston-based asset manager, joining from AllianceBernstein, where he most recently served as senior vice-president and CIO of quantitative investment strategies and director of fixed income absolute return strategies.

River and Mercantile Asset Management – Gary Dowsett has been appointed as a global analyst. He has previoujsly worked at Phillips & Drew (UBS Global Asset Management), Willis Towers Watson, Schroders and Taube Hodson Stonex Partners.  

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