UK – Socially responsible investing consultancy CoreRatings, which is part of the same group as Fitch Ratings, has named Anne-Maree O'Connor as its new head of research.

CoreRatings said in a statement that O’Connor was head of SRI research at both Henderson and Morley.

CoreRatings chief executive Alan Banks said: “Anne-Maree is one of the most knowledgeable analysts in the market and she has considerable experience melding together non-financial and financial research perspectives.”

O’Connor will assume responsibility for CoreRatings’ so-called engagement services to the asset management industry.

O'Connor said: "CoreRatings is the only research and ratings agency to come up with a practical method of analysing the investment effect of corporate governance and corporate responsibility issues.”

CoreRatings is majority owned by French business services group Fimalac, which also owns ratings agency Fitch. In December CoreRatings was hired by the 13.9 billion euro Swedish fund AP3 to provide SRI advice.