UK – Consultancy firm Watson Wyatt has hired a former actuary at insurer General Accident as a senior investment consultant.

Jonathan Crowther will be based in Leeds in northern England and will start in May.

Nick Watts, European head of investment consulting, said the move was “another positive step towards ensuring the continued growth and success of our investment consulting teams around the UK".

Earlier this month the firm pulled out of a one million pound a year business of providing actuarial services to local authority pension funds, saying it wanted to focus its research and development capabilities elsewhere.

Crowther said he relished the challenges of working at Watson Wyatt at “such a particularly interesting time in the investment cycle”.

The company has also launched the 2003 editions of its Benefits Report Western Europe and Employment Terms and Conditions Western Europe, both on CD-ROM. Each report costs 1,400 euros.