Länsförsäkringar, Alfred Berg, SPK, Mercer, DNB, Länsförsäkringar, ERAFP, Deutsche, Aberdeen, Colombia, BlackRock

Länsförsäkringar – Peter Norhammar and Petter Löfqvist have been hired by Sweden’s Länsförsäkringar as part of its move to bring domestic equities management in house. The two are both currently working at Nordic asset manager Alfred Berg and will start their jobs as portfolio managers at the insurance group’s unit LF Mutual Fund Company (Länsförsäkringar fondförvaltning) in the autumn. Norhammar currently heads up Swedish equities at Alfred Berg and is senior portfolio manager for Sweden. He is lead portfolio manager for Nordic listed real estate equities including the fund Alfred Berg Fastighetsfond (real estate fund) Norden. Löfqvist is senior portfolio manager for Sweden, in charge of Nordic and Swedish small caps.

SPK — Jonas Årsjö has been hired within the finance unit at Swedish banking sector occupational pension fund SPK. His main duty will be managing investment manager analysis in alternative investments and fixed income investments. Årsjö was previously senior investment consultant at Mercer Investment Consulting in Stockholm, as well as head of investment consulting at the firm for Sweden. He has also had an active career as a basketball player, and has recently been working as club director for the Swedish basketball team 08 Stockholm Human Rights.

Länsförsäkringar — Sten Dunér, the chief executive of Länsförsäkringar AB — part of the Swedish group of 23 mutual insurance companies — is retiring in the course of this year as planned, having been in the role since 2010. He was previously CFO at Länsförsäkringar AB, and has worked at the company since 1982. The firm said it had now started the process of recruiting Dunér’s successor.

DNB – Dutch pensions regulator De Nederlandsche Bank has appointed Marry de Gaay Fortman to its supervisory board (RvC) as of 1 July. De Gaay Fortman is a partner at law firm Houthoff Buruma. She succeeds Bert van Delden, who resigned on 1 November. DNB reappointed Kees Goudswaard for a four-year period on the board. Goudswaard is a professor of economics and social security at Leiden University and chairs an advisory committee of the Social and Economic Council (SER) on the future of the Dutch pensions system. The supervisor also extended the four-year term of Feike Sijbesma on the supervisory board. Sijbesma is chairman of the executive board of chemicals conglomerate DSM.

ERAFP – Olivier Bonnet will become head of asset manager selection at France’s €23.5bn additional pension scheme for civil servants, effective 1 May. Pauline Lejay will replace him as head of socially responsible investment (SRI), having previously been SRI officer. (See here for more)

Deutsche Asset Management – The head of the asset management firm, Quentin Price, is taking medical leave from the company. Price joined Deutsche in January from BlackRock, where he was head of alpha strategies. (See here for more)

Aberdeen – Campbell Fleming has been appointed global head of distribution at the asset manager, having resigned from Colombia Threadneedle Investments, where he was chief executive for the EMEA and global CIO. Before Columbia Fleming, he worked at JP Morgan until 2009. At Aberdeen, Fleming succeeds John Brett, who stepped down from the role late last year.

Northern Trust – The asset manager has appointed Aaron Overy to a senior institutional sales role with primary responsibility for the UK market, while Nigel Tyler has been appointed senior index equity portfolio manager. Taylor joins from BlackRock, where he was responsible for managing pooled and segregated index portfolios. Overy was most recently head of asset pooling sales at Northern Trust.

HQ Capital – The German investment manager for alternative assets has expanded the size of its supervisory board with two new members: Barbara Knoflach and Philipp Geller. Knoflach is deputy chief executive and global head of investment management at BNP Paribas Real Estate. Geller is a partner at HQ Trust and worked at UBS for seven years before that.

Linklaters – Philip Goss has been appointed partner in the law firm’s pensions practice, effective 1 May. Based in London, Goss joined Linklaters in 2006 and advises corporates and trustees on a range of pensions law issues, including scheme mergers, investment issues, buy-ins and buyouts and liability management exercises.

Allen & Overy – Jane Higgins has been promoted to partner in the law firm’s pensions practice, effective 1 May. She joined A&O as a trainee in 2005 and qualified as a solicitor in 2007, joining the pensions team as an associate. Based in London, Higgins advises corporates, banks and trustees on all aspects of their pensions arrangements.