People moves: Edmond de Rothschild AM picks new global CIO

Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management – The firm has appointed a new chief investment officer and co-head of equities.

Alain Krief has been promoted to global CIO for Edmond de Rothschild AM, and joins the firm’s executive committee. Meanwhile, Charles Lilford joins as co-head of equities and senior portfolio manager for its Big Data strategy.

Krief’s promotion takes effect immediately. He is based in Paris and reports to Christophe Caspar, global chief executive officer of Edmond de Rothschild AM.

Krief has over 30 years of experience in fixed income and credit markets. He was appointed global head of fixed income in 2019 and was responsible for a team of 15 people and €12bn in assets. Between 2012 and 2019, he had a similar role at Oddo BHF Asset Management, prior to which Krief was global head of credit at BNP Paribas Asset Management (Fischer Francis Trees & Watts).

The liquid assets investment team of Edmond de Rothschild AM includes 82 investment professionals covering fixed income (credit and sovereign), listed equities and multi-asset and overlay, managing total AuM of over €60 billion, invested in mutual funds and mandates.

The second senior appointment is within the firm’s equities investment team with Lilford joining as co-head of equities and senior portfolio manager on the Big Data strategy alongside Xiadong Bao. Effective 28 September, Lilford will be based in Paris and will report to Krief.

With over two decades of experience in asset management and capital markets, Lilford’s expertise lies in identifying winning companies across a range of sectors including power and energy, industrials and most notably technology. Prior to joining Edmond de Rothschild AM, he spent 10 years at BlackRock in the sector and thematics team where he managed the flagship BGF Sustainable Energy Fund and the Future of Transport Fund.

Hymans Robertson – Bulk annuity specialist Sarah McIvor has joined the UK consultancy as a principal and senior post-transaction specialist. She joins having most recently served as head of operations, bulk annuities, at Scottish Widows.

McIvor brings extensive knowledge of the UK pensions and risk transfer market. Prior to her operations role, she held several senior roles across Scottish Widows’ bulk annuity teams and also spent more than six years at Mercer advising clients on their pension strategy. With a background spanning pricing, operations and consulting, she has experience across the full endgame journey, most recently leading the transition of schemes through post-transaction milestones, helping trustees and sponsors progress confidently towards wind-up.

Mediolanum International Funds Limited (MIFL) – The investment management arm of Mediolanum Banking Group has appointed Stephen Tapley as deputy head of high yield. He joins a 72-strong investment team based in Dublin.

Tapley brings nearly two decades of experience in sub-investment grade credit markets. Most recently, he spent 14 years at Royal London Asset Management as senior fund manager, leveraged finance (global credit), having previously held roles as high yield analyst at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership and investment analyst at Gulf International Bank.

The appointment is the latest in a series of expansion milestones for Mediolanum’s internal investment platform, which now runs a €22bn of assets across public markets

Legal & General – Rachel Cutts has been appointed as head of origination and execution within the firm’s institutional retirement business.

Cutts has been with L&G for nine years and has played a key role in the growth of its pension risk transfer (PRT) business. Most recently, she served as chief of staff to institutional retirement CEO Gareth Mee, and prior to this as execution director leading complex transactions.

Throughout her career at L&G, Cutts has built a reputation for understanding clients’ objectives, solving complex challenges and helping schemes achieve positive outcomes for their members. In her new role, she will lead the team responsible for supporting schemes through the transaction process, working across origination, execution and the wider business to help deliver a joined-up journey for trustees, sponsors, advisers and members.

Aptia – Russell Laver has been appointed as head of pension risk transfer, further strengthening the firm’s expertise in supporting defined benefit (DB) pension schemes through their endgame journey.

Laver joins Aptia with more than 20 years of experience advising corporates and trustees on strategic pension matters. Throughout his career, he has developed extensive expertise across pension scheme governance, accounting disclosures, scheme closures, endgame planning and risk transfer projects, supporting organisations ranging from smaller pension arrangements to schemes with thousands of members.

Prior to joining Aptia, Laver was a partner at EY, where he led work on small scheme endgame solutions as well as advising a number of corporate clients. His career has also included senior leadership positions at Mercer and JLT, where he built and led successful de-risking, consulting and sales teams.

In his new role, Laver will lead Aptia’s pension risk transfer offering, helping clients to develop strategies that improve member outcomes, while supporting trustees and sponsors throughout the scheme journey.

Canada Life – Dominic Moret has been hired as managing director, bulk purchase annuities (BPA), to drive scale and accelerate momentum behind the delivery of the firm’s BPA growth strategy, subject to regulatory approval.

Moret will lead Canada Life’s end-to-end BPA proposition, setting its strategic direction, accelerating growth and strengthening its position as a provider of innovative pension de-risking solutions that deliver long‑term security for schemes and their members. He will report to Canada Life’s CEO, Emma Watkins, and will sit on Canada Life’s executive committee.

Moret brings more than 20 years of experience in the pensions and insurance industry, including 12 years in the UK BPA market. He joins from Legal & General, where, most recently as head of origination and execution, he led its commercial team and was accountable for the development of its BPA proposition, management of external relationships, delivery of BPA transactions and their efficient transition to buyout.

BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) – The firm has announced the appointment of four CIOs, effective 1 September 2026 and reporting to Rob Gambi, global head of investments.

These appointments strengthen the firm’s fund management and solution capabilities, as it enters its next growth phase and accelerates the execution of its 2030 AMplify strategic plan.

The four CIO appointments include:

• Guy Davies, deputy global head of investments since March 2022, and CIO and global head of fundamental active equity since 2016.
• Olivier de Larouzière, CIO and global head of fixed income. He is also a board executive of BNPP AM Europe. He joined BNPP AM in 2019.
• Laurent Clavel, CIO and global head of multi-asset. He joined BNPP AM following the acquisition of AXA Investment Management in 2025, having held several positions at AXA IM, such as global head of multi-asset and, before that, head of the quant lab and head of macroeconomic research.
• Robinson Rouchié, CIO and global head of systematic and quantitative investment. He joined BNPP AM in 2020 as chief of staff to the CIO.