People moves: HSBC Global Asset Management names CEO

HSBC Asset Management – The firm has appointed Dan Rudd as chief executive officer of HSBC Global Asset Management (UK) and head of UK wholesale, subject to regulatory approval.

In this dual role, Rudd will be responsible for the development and oversight of the firm’s UK business as well as leading the UK wholesale sales team.

Rudd brings more than 30 years of experience in the asset management industry. He has been with HSBC AM since 2005, most recently as head of wholesale Northern Europe, and has led the growth of its wholesale businesses across the Middle East, Northern Europe and the UK.

He will continue to be based in London and report to Thorsten Michalik, CEO, Europe, UK and Americas.

Fidelity International – Marion Le Morhedec has been appointed as global chief investment officer, fixed income. This appointment further strengthens the firm’s investment management leadership and supports its ongoing focus on delivering long-term value for clients globally.

Le Morhedec joins Fidelity in September after two decades with AXA Investment Managers. Most recently, she served as the global head of fixed income and was a member of AXA IM’s management board. In this role, she managed a team of 110 professionals across eight locations.

At Fidelity, Le Morhedec will report to Andrew Wells, CIO fixed income, multi and private assets, and will be based between Fidelity’s London and Paris offices. She replaces Steve Ellis, who announced last year he would leave to take a career break.

Ircantec – The French public sector pension scheme has elected a new president and vice president in connection with its mandate for the 2025-2029 term.

Jean-Christophe Couvy was elected president of the board of directors on the nomination of the FO civil servants’ trade union. He succeeds Christophe Iacobbi, representing the Association of Mayors of France, who was elected vice president to represent the employers’ college.

Couvy said he wanted to support retirees through the pension plan’s social initiatives, and that he was committed to working to guarantee Ircantec’s long-term solvency by pursuing a social and environmental management of the scheme’s reserves.

He said Ircantec would continue to invest in the real economy and in companies that respect human and environmental rights, in particular housing, social holidays and university and senior citizen residences.

GAM Holding – The firm has announced senior leadership changes as the group moves into the next phase of sustainable growth.

Albert Saporta has been appointed group CEO effective 1 July 2025, succeeding Elmar Zumbuehl, who will remain with GAM until 31 December 2025 to support the transition. Additionally, Tim Rainsford will return to GAM to lead its distribution efforts as group chief distribution officer on 1 October 2025.

Under Zumbuehl’s leadership, GAM has undergone a comprehensive repositioning over the last 21 months, “divesting non-core businesses and rebuilding a lean, scalable platform designed to attract and empower top investment talent and better connect them to clients worldwide through a strengthened global distribution and client servicing network”, it said.

Saporta has more than 40 years of experience in the investment management industry and has served as global head of investments and products at GAM since October 2023. He will take over as group CEO with a clear focus on accelerating growth through building on the firm’s existing and new product offerings and external opportunities.

Rainsford will return to GAM as group chief distribution officer and a group management board member. He brings extensive experience in leading global distribution functions focused on growth and delivering for clients. He was CEO of Generali Investments Partners, and latterly, chief product and distribution officer for Generali Asset Management.

Rossen Djounov, global head of client solutions, will remain a senior member of the distribution leadership team, reporting to Rainsford, with a focus on driving growth initiatives and deepening strategic client relationships.

HS Trustees – Palwinder Hare has been appointed as the firm’s latest professional trustee.

He is currently a trustee director of two large pension schemes and, in addition to the trustee boards, serves on board committees covering governance, administration, audit, risk, investment and funding. He expands the specialisms at HS Trustees, which cover sustainability, investment, administration, governance, master trust, de-risking, with-profits and now legal.

Hare has more than 35 years of corporate legal experience in mergers and acquisitions, project finance and commercial matters gained in financial services, telecom, conglomerate and industrial sectors. Until recently, he was head of group legal for M&A and corporate at Standard Chartered, where he was responsible for the group’s M&A transactions, corporate matters and legal support for group functions and governance issues.

Future Growth Capital (FGC) – The independent private markets solutions business formed by Phoenix Group and Schroders has appointed Denise Le Gal and John Chilman to the board.

Le Gal has been appointed as chair of the board and brings a wealth of UK pensions industry experience to the business. She currently serves as independent chair of Brightwell (previously BT Pension Scheme Management Limited, the primary service provider to the BT Pension Scheme) and chair of the JP Morgan Chase UK Retirement Plan, where she is also a member of the trustee board, investment and funding committees.

She previously served as chair of Brunel Pension Partnership and chair of the Local Government Pensions Committee for the Local Government Association.

Chilman has extensive UK pensions experience, currently serving as chair of the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association’s (PLSA) policy board, governor and trustee of the Pensions Policy Institute, and independent trustee director of Nestlé UK Pension Fund, where he chairs the DB investment and DB funding committees. He previously served as the CEO of Railpen, and group head of pensions for National Grid.

Both bring decades of experience from long careers in pensions leadership and advisory. They join FGC’s board effective immediately.

Lothian Pension Fund – The second largest local government pension scheme (LGPS) provider in Scotland has announced the appointment of Denise Le Gal as a new non-executive director (NED) of the LPFE and LPFI boards.

The appointment is for four years, effective 9 June 2025. Le Gal is an experienced NED and chair with a varied career across banking, pensions and local government. She also brings strong experience of FCA-regulated entities. She has been involved in LGPS since 2009 when she was appointed chair of Surrey Pension Fund.

Schroders – The firm has made four new senior appointments, which will be focused on enhancing Schroders’ client-first proposition and driving deeper client relationships.

Karine Szenberg will be appointed executive vice chair, whilst Matt Oomen joins as global head of client group.

Szenberg, currently global head of client group, will remain on the group executive committee in her new role as executive vice chair. She will focus on the acceleration of Schroders’ strategy by working closely with the firm’s extensive network of joint ventures and associates, and build new partnerships with leading organisations to maintain its relevance for clients.

Oomen has a distinguished 30-year career in the financial services industry. He joins from US-headquartered BNY Investments where he was most recently global head of distribution, responsible for product strategy, marketing and sales across 30 countries. In his role as global head of client group, he will be instrumental in driving growth across the business and building on Schroders’ trusted client relationships. He will report to group CEO Richard Oldfield and will join the group executive committee.

In Asia, Gopi Mirchandani has been appointed head of client group, Asia, succeeding Chris Durack, who has been appointed to the newly created role of chair for Asia until his departure on 31 December. Mirchandani will report to Oomen.

In addition, Jason Yu has been appointed country head for Hong Kong, subject to regulatory approval.

Invest Europe – The association representing Europe’s private equity has appointed Elias Korosis, global investment partner at Federated Hermes Private Equity, as its new chair for 2025-2026.

In addition, Sander Slootweg, co-owner and managing partner at Forbion, and vice chair of the VC Platform Council, was named chair-elect.

Korosis succeeds Johannes Huth, senior advisory partner at KKR and managing director at Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL), who served as chair during a pivotal year marked by continued advocacy for private capital’s vital role in Europe’s growth and innovation.

He has served on the board and in the LP Council of Invest Europe since 2018. He joined Federated Hermes Private Equity in 2011 and is a member of the global investment committee, with oversight of the innovation funds and portfolio management team.

Korosis’s appointment comes at a time when private equity, venture capital and infrastructure investments are playing an increasingly essential role in driving innovation, productivity, sustainability and competitiveness in Europe, the firm stated. As chair, he is committed to “advancing Invest Europe’s mission to serve as a voice for the industry and a trusted partner for policymakers, investors and the public”.

Barnett Waddingham (BW) – The consultancy has strengthened its bulk annuities team with the appointment of Oliver Ward as Principal and risk transfer actuary.

Ward brings over a decade of experience from PwC where he spent nearly 12 years in the pensions practice advising both sponsors and trustees of DB and DC pension schemes, most recently as head of the Leeds pension team. During that time, He advised a diverse range of clients from FTSE 100 companies with schemes in excess of £10bn to family-owned private businesses, across the full spectrum of pensions issues.

At BW, Ward will work closely with trustees and sponsors of DB pension schemes of all sizes to identify and implement tailored risk transfer solutions.

TPT Investment Management (TPTIM) – The fiduciary management company, part of the TPT Retirement Solutions Group, has hired Nick Stacey as senior investment manager.

In his new role, Stacey will be responsible for enhancing TPTIM’s research activities, continuing to develop its private market investment strategy. He will also support the wider team on strategy and portfolio construction initiatives as well as product development. He will report to Peter Smith, investment director at TPTIM.

Stacey will draw on a wealth of multi-asset investment experience in his new role, with more than 22 years in the industry. Prior to joining TPT, he served as head of asset management and allocation for a European family office. Previously, he spent eight years at the in-house investment team at Barclays UK Retirement Fund, focusing on investment strategy and research relating to return-seeking assets.

Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI) – Christian Schulz is joining the firm as chief economist.

In his new role, Schulz will lead AllianzGI’s global economics and strategy team, which prepares macroeconomic research and market insights that help inform investment portfolios and positioning at the firm as well as producing a broad range of thought-leadership for clients.

Schulz, who joins on 1 July, will be based in Frankfurt and report to Michael Krautzberger, CIO public markets at AllianzGI.

Veritas – Carl Haglund, CEO of the Finnish pension insurance company, is leaving his job after three years in the top role, Veritas has announced. Haglund is moving to Aktia Bank, where he has been hired as CEO.

Haglund said on LinkedIn that having served on Aktia’s board, the bank was familiar to him, and the strategy and road ahead were clear.

“I am very much looking forward to this new journey together with the entire team at Aktia,” he said, but added he was leaving the €4.8bn pensions insurer with mixed feelings.

“We have achieved so much together, and Veritas is today a very successful and steadily growing company within pension insurance,” he said.

Cassa Nazionale del Notariato (CNN) – The Italian first-pillar pension fund has appointed Patrizia Sara Siciliano as the new president, succeeding Vincenzo Pappa Monteforte.

The pension fund’s board of directors has also elected Franco Amadeo as vice president and Stefano Poeta as secretary.

Members of the executive committee for the period 2025-2027 were also appointed. Theese include: Antonio Garau, Ileana Maestroni, Giuseppe Mattera, and Francesco Paolo Petrera.

Pensionskasse Post – The current CEO of the Swiss pension fund for the employees of the national postal service, Françoise Bruderer Thom, will step down at the end of June, after 18 years.

The pension fund has hired executive-search company schillingpartners to look for a new CEO.

Prior to joining Pensionskasse Post, Bruderer Thom was the director of public pension institution Bernische Lehrerversicherungskasse (BLVK). She also served as a board member of Ethos Foundation until 2017.

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