Mark Zinkula, chief executive officer at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), is to retire at the end of August 2019, the company announced this morning.

In a notice to the stock exchange, LGIM’s parent company Legal & General, the UK insurance giant, said it would begin the process of recruiting a successor “in due course”.

Zinkula has led the asset management company since March 2011, having previously led the establishment of LGIM America as CEO since 2008. He is also a board member at the Financial Reporting Council and the Investment Association.

Zinkula said: “Leading LGIM over the past several years, a period of significant transformation and growth, has been a real privilege.

“It has been a pleasure to work with such committed colleagues at LGIM and I’m proud of what our talented leadership team has accomplished. They have created a truly unique, collaborative and client-focused culture, which has driven the successful expansion of our business.

“We are well positioned for the future and I believe next year will be the right time to step down. By giving notice now, we will have ample time to plan for my successor.”

During his tenure to date, LGIM has taken a leading role in stewardship efforts in the UK. In 2015, Zinkula wrote to FTSE 350 companies urging them to abandon quarterly reporting in a bid to boost long-term investing.

He also oversaw the group’s successful bid for the National Grid Pension Scheme’s in-house asset manager, Aerion Fund Management, in 2015.

LGIM was the biggest UK-based asset manager at the end of 2017, according to data from IPE’s Top 400 Asset Managers report, with €1.11trn in assets under management.

The full 2018 Top 400 report will be published with the June edition of IPE.