European Commission, BNP Paribas Investment Partners, Newton Investment Management, Nykredit Asset Management, BankInvest, AP1, Westchester Group, La Française

European Commission Jonathan Hill has been confirmed as the next commissioner for Financial Services, winning over doubters in his second hearing. The former leader of the UK House of Lords won the vote to be confirmed in the College of Commissioners by 45 votes to 13. An additional vote by members of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee backed him as commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union by 42 to 16.

BNP Paribas Investment PartnersSusan Gostick has been appointed head of the pension fund segment at the French asset manager. Based in London, she will focus of adding to the company’s pensions business. She joins from Newton Investment Management, where she was head of institutional relations. She has also worked at Lazard Asset Management.

BankInvest –Lars Bo Bertram has been appointed as the new chief executive of Danish investment manager BankInvest. He will take on the role at both BI Holding and the BankInvest Group. Bo Bertram is currently bank executive board member and head of Nykredit Asset Management. At Nykredit, he is responsible for investment management and investment fund administration. Before that, he worked for Danske Bank. He is also chairman of the CFA Society Denmark. Bo Bertram will leave Nykredit’s executive board with effect from today. Following his departure, the board will comprise managing directors Bjørn MortensenGeorg Andersen and Jesper Berg. Bo Bertram will be stepping into the shoes of BankInvest’s current chief executive Bo Foged, who – as reported by IPE in May – has been appointed group finance director at Danish statutory pension fund ATP. The two will change roles on 1 January 2015.

AP1Kaj Martensen has been appointed COO at the Swedish buffer fund, replacing Anders Rahmn, who is set to retire. Martensen will also join the fund’s management board. He will begin his new role at the start of 2015, with Rahmn stepping down at the end of February. Martensen joins from Shell Asset Management in the Netherlands.

Westchester GroupMartin Davies has joined the farmland investment specialist as executive vice-president and chief executive of its Europe office. Westchester is majority owned by US pension provider TIAA-CREF, whose asset management arm recently opened a UK office. He joins from Insight Investment and was behind its farmland investment business for the past five years. He will now manage the company’s business in Europe and build its European farmland investment business.

La FrançaisePierre Schoeffler has joined the French asset manager as a senior global asset allocation adviser, working across the group’s entire asset offering. He remains chairman of S&Partners, an asset allocation consultancy he founded in 2004, and is a senior adviser at IEIF, a real estate investment research centre and consultancy.