Barnett Waddingham, PGGM, Lazard, LifeSight, Actuarial Association of Europe, Tesco, De Nationale APF, QMA, Aegon AM, Schroders, Unigestion, GAM, Cairn Capital, Invesco

Barnett Waddingham – The UK actuarial and consultancy group has appointed a head of data science “to widen its expertise in line with the changing expectations of its clients”, according to a press release.

Filip Deryckere has taken on the newly created role. He joined Barnett Waddingham last month from NoisyChannels, a Belgian advisory firm he set up in 2015.

“The uses for data science in businesses are manifold and it is an exhilarating time for companies able to harness this,” Deryckere said. “Barnett Waddingham’s large and diverse set of services allows us to go further for our clients, we aim to continuously enhance our offering in the area of data visualisation, machine learning and practical applications based on data science, to the benefit of our clients.”

PGGM – Dutch pensions administrator and asset manager PGGM has appointed Gerko Baarslag in the newly created role of chief information officer, effective 1 November. He will focus on taking the company’s IT organisation to a new level, the group said.

Previously, IT was the responsibility of PGGM’s chief finance and risk officer, but the company said it was splitting the responsibility as IT was of “great strategic importance for possible future scenarios” in the pensions sector.

Baarslag joins from ground research firm Fugro, where he was responsible for IT and digital innovation. He is also supervisor at the Dutch government’s bureau for IT examination, which assesses the chances of government IT projects succeeding.

Earlier this year, PGGM said it would require an entirely new IT system if the Netherlands opts for a new pension system based on individual accrual.

Lazard Asset Management – The $238bn (€202.5bn) investment house has opened its first office in the Netherlands. Marcel van Ostaden will run the Amsterdam base as director of sales. He was previously head of sales for the Benelux region at Lombard Odier Investment Managers, and has also held sales roles at BlackRock and BMO Global Asset Management.

Jeremy Taylor, Lazard’s CEO, said the Netherlands was “an important and growing market for us”.

LifeSight – Willis Towers Watson’s UK defined contribution master trust has named Mark Bennett as director of sales. LifeSight runs more than £2bn (€2.2bn) of assets but aims to grow further and “capitalise on the significant market opportunity in the master trust sector”, it said. Bennett joins from Legal & General’s workplace pensions team where he was a key account director.

Actuarial Association of Europe – Esko Kivisaari has been elected chair of the AAE for the year to October 2019, succeeding Thomas Béhar. Kivisaari is a former president of Finland’s actuarial association, and chaired the AAE’s insurance committee for five years to 2017. He is also a member of the EU’s High Level Expert Group on Sustainability.

“With a new strategic plan and a new governance, we are ready to address the fascinating challenges that Europe and our profession face today,” Kivisaari said.

“Our special focus will remain on the new European regulations and the review of the existing ones. We will also open our work to the wider fields, meaning notably the impact of the fintech world and the new technology in our European practices.”

Falco Valkenburg was elected vice-chair.

Tesco – The €15bn pension fund for the Tesco supermarket chain has hired David Linehan as a fund manager for its internal investment team. Linehan joined this month, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was previously a senior investment manager at Ireland’s National Treasury Management Agency where he worked on the country’s €22bn sovereign wealth fund.

De Nationale APF – Henk de Bruijne is to depart as executive board member of De Nationale APF, the general pension fund of Dutch asset manager Nationale Nederlanden Investment Partners and its administrative subsidiary AZL.

De Bruijne has been responsible for asset management and finance since the scheme’s inception, but said he wanted to focus on the content of asset management. He is due to leave on 1 November but will stay on for up to two months if the board fails to find a successor in time.

QMA – Quantitative Management Associates, part of US asset management giant PGIM, has hired Liisa Juntunen as head of UK consultant relations. She will join on 1 October from Legal & General Investment Management, where she was head of the strategic client team. She has also worked at Rogge Global Partners, Ignis Asset Management and AllianceBernstein. QMA opened its London office earlier this year, its first presence outside of the US.

Aegon AM – Aegon Asset Management has appointed Marianne Hamerslag as institutional business development manager, tasked with extending the business towards investment solutions as well as alternative and illiquid strategies. She joins from Robeco, where she focused on investment solutions. 

Schroders – Ped Phrompechrut has joined the FTSE-listed asset manager’s multi-asset solutions team to provide specialist advice on private markets. He was previously head of private market solutions at Willis Towers Watson, overseeing the consultancy giant’s advice on private equity, real estate, infrastructure and private credit.

Neil Walton, head of investment solutions, said Phrompechrut’s expertise was important “as more of our clients look beyond traditional asset classes to help them deliver the returns they require to meet their liabilities”.

Unigestion – The Swiss asset manager has hired Salman Baig and Joshua Seager as investment managers on its multi-asset team. Baig was previously an investment associate at Bridgewater, and at Unigestion will focus primarily on the company’s Cross-Asset Navigator strategy. Seager joins from EQ Investors and will primarily focus on the alternative risk premia strategy.

GAM Investments – Juan Landazabal has joined the Swiss asset manager’s London office as global head of trading, a newly created role. He was previously head of fixed income and foreign exchange trading at DWS, and has also led fixed income trading at Fidelity.

Cairn Capital – The specialist credit asset manager has appointed Mark Stieler as head of fundamental credit research. He joined Cairn in 2007 and is currently head of loan research, a role he will continue alongside his new position. 

The company has also appointed Tina De Baere as head of ESG and macro strategy. She has worked at Cairn since 2008, and provides macro strategy input for the firm’s multi-asset credit and managed accounts.

Invesco – Invesco’s exchange-traded fund (ETF) business has hired two fixed income specialists to its portfolio management team in response to “strong investor demand” for fixed income ETFs.

Wayne Parker joins from FinEx London where he was an ETF portfolio manager and trader, and in his new role he will oversee fixed income and multi-asset products. Deepak Bharti was previously a senior equity ETF portfolio manager at DWS’s DB X-trackers ETF business. At Invesco Bharti will manage fixed income funds in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as working on US equity products.

Topics