Robeco, Orix Corporation, Hermes Investment Management, Duemme SGR, Invesco Asset Management, Schroders France, BlueBay Asset Management, Ardian Private Debt, GE Capital, Davy Asset Management, Threadneedle Investments, City Noble, Towers Watson, Aon, Jupiter, FRC, SYZ Asset Management, LGIM, Investment Association, comPlan

RobecoRoderick Munsters, chief executive at Robeco, has announced his departure after six years at the helm and two years since Japan’s Orix Corporation acquired the €273bn Dutch asset manager from Rabobank. According to Dutch financial news daily Het Financieele Dagblad (FD), Orix believes Munsters lacks the international experience needed to realise the company’s expansion plans.

Hermes Investment Management Angelo Natale has been hired by Hermes Investment Management and will take on the newly created role of director of business development for Italy. He will be based in London and report to Paul Voûte, head of European business development. Natale joins from Duemme SGR, the asset management arm of Gruppo Banca Esperia, where he was senior director of business development. Before that, he was group investor relations officer at Kairos Investment Management. 

Invesco Asset ManagementMustapha Bouheraoua has been appointed as head of institutional sales for France, reporting to Colin Fitzgerald, head of institutional business EMEA. Bouheraoua will be based in Paris. He joins from Schroders France, where he was head of institutional business for France and North Africa. He worked at several other institutional asset management companies before that, including Allianz Global Investors.

BlueBay Asset ManagementChristophe Vulliez is joining BlueBay Asset Management in its direct lending team as head of France, while Vincent Vitores has been appointed as head of Spain, also for direct lending. Vulliez comes from Ardian Private Debt, where he was managing director in Paris, having worked at AXA Investment Managers as a structured finance portfolio manager before that. Vitores joins from GE Capital, where he was most recently executive director in debt and equity special situations. Before that, he worked at Monitor Company, BNP Paribas and 3i. 

Davy Asset ManagementDoug Gordon has been hired as head of European distribution, coming to the Davy Group asset management arm from Threadneedle Investments, where he spent nine years as sales director. Before that, he was investment sales manager at Morley Fund Management (now Aviva Investors) for five years. He will be based in Dublin in his new job. 

City NobleSteve Dainty has been appointed by City Noble as an associate to advise Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS) on strategy and on governance issues and active investment strategies in particular. Dainty is a CIPFA accountant and has been group accountant for several local government departments including Central Services, Capital and Exchequer, and Highways. In 2010, he was head of pensions for Local Government Shared Services.

Towers WatsonStuart Reid is joining Towers Watson as business development and sales lead for the company’s defined contribution master trust LifeSight. He joins from Aon, where he has been a director in its benefits consultancy business since 2013. Before that, he worked in business development at Standard Life, Bluefin and Capita. 

Jupiter Fund ManagementStephen Pearson is being promoted within Jupiter to CIO. He joined the asset manager in 2001 as a European equities fund manager and was appointed deputy CIO in July 2012. He was then promoted to head of investments a year later. Pearson replaces John Chatfeild-Roberts, who has chosen to concentrate on the Jupiter Merlin multi-manager portfolios. Chatfeild-Roberts will remain a director of Jupiter Fund Management, with Pearson taking on his position as CIO on Jupiter’s executive committee. 

Financial Reporting CouncilDavid Cannon, Helen Jones and Sean Collins have been appointed to the conduct committee of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), effective 1 September. Cannon will also join the council’s monitoring committee. The FRC said Cannon and Collins each had 40 years of experience working in professional services, and Jones had considerable knowledge of assurance and risk management.  

SYZ Asset Management – Hartwig Kos has been hired by Swiss banking group SYZ as co-head of multi-asset and vice-CIO of SYZ Asset Management. He will be based in London and lead manager of the OYSTER Multi-Asset Diversified fund. 

Legal & General Investment ManagementChad Rakvin has been appointed to succeed Ali Toutounchi as global head of index funds. LGIM is also hiring Eve Finn to the new role of head of portfolio solutions. Rakvin has been head of US index funds at LGIM America (LGIMA) in Chicago since 2013, and in his new UK-based role he will lead LGIM’s London, Chicago and Hong Kong index teams. Toutounchi is retiring, as planned, but will keep links with LGIM after his retirement, working in a strategic and advisory capacity. Finn has worked at LGIM since 2009, where she is currently head of portfolio construction, LDI funds. Before joining LGIM, she worked in the Global Pensions Strategy Group at Deutsche Bank

The Investment Association – Seven new board members have been appointed: Maxime Carmignac of Carmignac Gestion; Michael Cohen of Capital International; Paul Feeney of Old Mutual Wealth; Alex Hoctor-Duncan of BlackRock Investment Management (UK); Kim McFarland of Investec Asset Management; Joanna Munro of HSBC Global Asset Management and Mike O’Shea of Premier Asset Management. Four existing members have been re-appointed: Andrew Formica of Henderson Group; Peter Harrison of Schroders; Andrew Laing of Aberdeen Asset Management and Mark Zinkula of Legal & General Investment Management. Five directors are retiring from the association’s board: Peter Chambers, James Charrington, Robert HigginbothamKeith Skeoch and Robert Talbut. Since the last AGM, two directors – Will Nott and Tom Rampulla – have retired. 

comPlanUrs Schaffner is to become the new head of comPlan, the Swiss pension fund that covers staff and pensioners of telecommunications company Swisscom. He was previously head of the pension fund of engineering company Sulzer. He will replace the current manager of comPlan, André-Pierre Schmidt. Schaffner has been elected by the pension fund board and will take up the role on 1 October.