Industriens, PenSam, European Commission, Resaver, Hermes IM, VTB Capital, L&G, Deutsche Bank, IIGCC, AP2, BNP Paribas, Ashburton, UBS, Penfida, Bestrustees

Industriens PensionKasper Lykke Meisner has been appointed by Industriens Pension in Denmark to the role of head of investment risk, filling the vacancy left by Sofie Grathe who decided to leave the company in the first quarter of this year. Lykke Meisner comes to Industriens Pension from PenSam, where he was risk manager. He takes up his new job today.

European CommissionAndreas Dahlén has left the commission, where he has been a policy officer in the research department and helped set up Resaver, the multi-employer cross-border pension fund for researchers that became operational a few months ago. He was also involved in co-ordinating the implementation of the European Long-Term Investment Funds regulation. Dahlén joined the Commission in 2011.

Hermes Investment Management – The asset manager wholly owned by the BT Pension Scheme has hired Orla Murphy as research director, a newly created role. She will be responsible for procuring equity and credit research from brokers and independent research providers. Hermes said Murphy would also be responsible for transaction cost analysis, managing the group’s research budget, and assessing the value of research.

Asset managers must disclose how much they pay for research under MiFID II regulations by 3 January 2018 when the Europe-wide regulations come into force.

Murphy joins Hermes from VTB Capital, where she held roles including business manager for international equities and cross-asset business manager. She has also held business management and analysis positions at Barclays Wealth and Fidelity Investments.

Legal & General – The insurance giant has appointed Pretty Sagoo as head of strategic business within its pension risk transfer arm. She will oversee large scheme pension buy-ins, buyouts, and longevity insurance transactions, L&G said. She joins from Deutsche Bank where she led its insurance and pensions solutions team. Sagoo has also worked for AXA Sun Life and Goldman Sachs. She was also a trustee of the Abbey Life Pension Scheme until November last year.

IIGCC – The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change has appointed Rachel Ward as its head of EU policy. She joins from the UK’s civil service where she worked on EU and international climate change, energy, and transport policy for 10 years. In her new role she will identify and track key policy developments and work to “strengthen [members’] collective voice, engagement and influence”.

In addition, IIGCC has appointed Christina Olivecrona and Helena Viñes Fiestas to its board. Olivecrona is a sustainability analyst at AP2, one of Sweden’s buffer funds for its public pension system. Fiestas is head of sustainability research at BNP Paribas Investment Partners.

Ashburton Investments – The investment management firm has hired Robert Lea as head of global equity research. He will lead a newly created research team, which will provide analysis for the firm’s equity and multi-asset funds. He joins from UBS, where he was a global equity research sector head and strategist. Ashburton has also appointed Jonathan Aldrich-Blake to the research team – he was previously an investment manager at the firm.

Penfida – The UK advisory firm focused on sponsor covenant advice has appointed a former chair of the country’s pensions trade body as a senior adviser. Peter Thompson joins from Bestrustees, an independent trustee firm, and previously worked for Mercer for 25 years. Between 2001 and 2003 Thompson was chair of the National Association of Pension funds (now the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association), part of an 11-year tenure at the trade body. He has also advised organisations responsible for the UK’s railways and universities on their industry-wide pension provisions.