The investment decisions for the Flexible Allocation strategy will not be anchored by a traditional benchmark. Instead it has an ‘outcome-focused’ approach by targeting cash plus 4% on an annual basis. Returns aim to outpace inflation, protecting and increasing the real value of investments, aimed at offering a stable investment journey for clients.

This dynamic asset allocation approach explicitly considers how conditions vary significantly across the market cycle. It aims to exploit market inefficiencies and manage downside risk, without being handcuffed by the parameters of a traditional benchmark. The strategy focuses on the retail or wholesale investor with a mid-range risk appetite and has a standard five-year investment horizon for returns.

It is the fourth strategy in the multi-asset range, which was reorganized earlier in 2024 as Sustainable Income Allocation, Sustainable Diversified Allocation and Sustainable Dynamic Allocation. Differentiating from the other three, Flexible Allocation has free reign to pick securities across the entire spectrum of assets managed by other Robeco equity and fixed income teams.

This means it will not necessarily follow the usual ‘60-40’ multi-asset mix of populating the portfolio with 60% equities and 40% bonds mirrored by standard benchmarks. Flexible Allocation is designed to offer far more active and dynamic views in terms of the asset mix.

The asset allocation will be based on Robeco’s five-year outlook ‘Expected Returns’, which offers in-depth research on asset class projections for the next five years. It will be a key input for the ideal mix and weightings with a risk range of 6-12% volatility for the strategy.

According to the outlook, it is expected that inflation is going to run higher than the central banks’ virtually universal Consumer Price Index (CPI) target of 2% for the next four or five years, with a base case of 2.5% in euros that could at least cover inflation via the plus 4% target.

Colin Graham, head of multi asset strategies at Robeco: “Many investment strategies are focused on a benchmark. At Robeco we believe our clients don’t start their investment journey with a benchmark, but with an investment goal. Therefore, the central focus of this is achieving an annual return of cash plus 4% return at a medium risk level. However, we’re turning this around by using some of the best underlying security selection from across Robeco, whether that’s from the equity side or credit selection.”

The private bank has hired Anna Zakrzewski as group chief operating officer.

Zakrzewski served over two decades at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as managing director and partner. He will be based in Luxembourg and will work closely with Eli Leenaars, outgoing chief operating officer for Quintet.

Leenaars is retiring after four decades in executive roles for four different banks.

The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI)

The professional body has appointed Mandy Gill as its executive director of global learning.

Gill will join the CISI in late November from the Gambling Commission where she was director of industry and specialist knowledge. Prior to that she was director of compliance at Commission from 2018 to 2023.

Gill has experience in vocational education and regulation, working with Ofqual for three years, and professional services. She became a qualified solicitor in 1993 and worked at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Nucleus Financial Platforms

The platform company has hired Andrew Tully as technical services director.

Tully is a pensions expert and industry commentator. He has spent 35 years working in high profile roles, such as technical director at Canada Life and Pensions Technical Director at MGM Advantage.

He will be taking over Neil MacGillivray, who is retiring as head of the technical support unit after a 25-year career with James Hay and Nucleus.

Robeco

The international asset management company has named Nick King as head of its ETF platform.

King previously spent eight years at Fidelity. Before that, he spent nearly nine years at BlackRock where he was promoted to senior portfolio manager in ETFs.

WRISE Group

The multi-family office has hired Helen Lam as group chief operating officer and Gaven Koh as group head of risk and compliance.

Prior to joining WRISE, Lam worked at the Bank of Singapore Hong Kong branch on strategic business operations.

Koh has 12 years of experience in the private banking industry and led a team of analysists at Credit Suisse AG across Asia Pacific.

Atomos

The wealth firm has appointed Jonty Warneken as head of the Harrogate office.

Warneken previously worked at Sanlam for seven years until 2019, when he joined Brooks Macdonald.

Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management (CGWM)

The wealth management firm has recruited David Blake as experienced investment director.

He joins as investment director for Rathbones and has previously held roles at Jupiter Asset Management, Bestinvest and Brooks Macdonald Asset Management.

Fidelity International 

The investment firm has named Talib Sheikh as lead portfolio manager across multi-asset income strategies.

Sheikh brings over 25 years of experience in the investment industry, most recently as head of multi-asset strategies at Jupiter Asset Management.

Sheikh succeeds Eugene Philalithis, who has announced his retirement in 2024.

The advice network has appointed Helen Ball as chief executive.

Ball was previously managing director of Tenet and has over 40 years’ experience in the sector.

She has previous experience undertaking strategic reviews and has been working on the firm’s strategic review to date.

Following this change, Mark Scanlon, chief executive, and Martin Tyler, chief financial officer, will be leaving the business with immediate effect.

Progeny

The financial planning group has named Caroline Hawkesley as UK managing director as part of a restructure to strengthen its position in the UK market and prepare the business for future international growth with the imminent acquisition of The Fry Group.

Hawkesley will move from her current role as chief operations officer in the business.

She began her career in the banking industry before co-founding her own financial advisory firm Evolve. When this was acquired by Progeny in 2018, she went on to head up the operations team.

In her new role, Hawkeseley will manage and direct Progeny’s activities in the UK.

Progeny founder Neil Moles remains in position as chief executive.

Nedgroup Investments

The asset manager has hired Apiramy Jeyarajah as chief commercial officer for its international business.

She is based in London.

Before joining Nedgroup Investments, Jeyarajah was head of UK wholesale distribution at Aviva Investors and the head of financial institutions for UK and Israel at HSBC Global Asset Management.

Suntera Global

Anne Baggesen has announced she is stepping down from her role as managing director of the firm’s private wealth division.

She said via a Linkedin post: “I am going to taking a break for a few months before I decide what I should venture into and explore what new opportunities are out there for me.”

Baggesen has spent 19 years at Suntera Global.

PKB

The private banking company has named Alfonso Rivolta as group head of wealth solutions.

He joins the bank from EFG, where he was global head of wealth planning.

Bank of Singapore

Ranjit Khanna has joined the bank as chief executive of its Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) branch and global market head of the Middle East, subject to regulatory approval.

He was most recently the chief executive of the Singapore office of Union Bancaire Privee as well as its head of private banking for south Asia.

Khanna is a replacement for Alexandre Lotfi as chief executive of the DIFC branch, who is relocating to Singapore to continue in his other role as global chief risk officer.

Meanwhile, Vikram Malhotra, who previously oversaw the business growth of the DIFC branch from Singapore, will now focus on expanding the bank’s coverage of the non-resident Indian segment across Asia as global market head of south Asia.

Julius Baer

Marco Parroni, currently head of global brand partnerships and sponsoring, has been promoted to chief marketing officer at the bank.

Parroni joined Julius Baer in 2013.

Antje Hembd will succeed Parroni as head of global brand partnerships and sponsoring.

Also, the private banking group has expanded its operation in Brazil with the hiring of a team from Grimper Capital.

The team that will join Julius Baer Brazil during the course of April includes:

• Sylvio Castro, founder, and main partner at Grimper Capital. He will be responsible for all the relationship managers at Julius Baer Brazil and hold the title of head of client management Brazil;
• André Szasz is a partner at Grimper Capital; and
• João Freitas is the third partner at Grimper Capital.

Other senior members of the Grimper Capital team who will join Julius Baer Brazil include Mariam Dayoub, Alexandre Mastrocinque, Sidney Uejima, Thiago Marchiore, Rafael Ribeiro, and Vito Ferreira.

Asset Co

Gary Collins has stepped down from his role as head of distribution at the wealth and asset management consolidator, according to a Linkedin post.

He joined the firm in July 2021 from Columbia Threadneedle Investments, where he was head of distribution for Emea and Latin America.

Weatherbys

The private banking group has hired Maya Lewis and Anthony Rawlinson as private bankers.

Lewis was previously at Investec, where she worked with a focus on sports and entertainment clients.

Rawlinson previously served as a discretionary portfolio manager at Coutts and head of private banking for Standard Chartered in Abu Dhabi.

Robeco

Ralf Oberbannscheidt has been appointed as global head of thematic investing at the asset manager.

In this role, he will oversee the teams and further development of the active thematic investing offering.

Oberbannscheidt joins from Global Thematic Partners, New York (GTP), of which he was a founding partner and portfolio manager.

The Swiss financial group has named Philippe Turrian as head of client solutions and marketing and communication.

Turrian was most recently chief operating officer of Pictet’s wealth management division.

Evelyn Partners

The wealth management and professional services firm has welcomed Paul Morris to its financial services team in Bristol.

Morris, who joins as director, financial planning, was previously a client director at wealth management firm Brown Shipley, and he also had spells with HSBC Private Bank and Barclays Wealth in Jersey.

Robeco

Alexander Preininger has been named as global head of sales and marketing at the firm, effective 1 November 2022.

He joins from Amundi, where he was global head of institutional clients coverage.

Bovill

Matt Browne has joined the financial regulation consultancy firm as head of its wealth practice.

He joins from PwC, where he was a director in its risk and regulatory practice.

Nordea Asset Management

The asset manager has hired Jamie Hayes as director of UK wholesale distribution.

Hayes joins Nordea Asset Management from RBC Global Asset Management in London, where he worked within its European distribution team.

He replaces Paul Malpas, who is stepping into a new role developing the group’s presence in the Canadian market, alongside amplifying NAM’s sustainability credentials in Europe and beyond.

Hayes and Malpas will work closely together in the weeks ahead to ensure a smooth transition.

Franklin Templeton

The investment firm has named Heneg Parthenay as head of insurance Emea.

Heneg joins Franklin Templeton from Insight Investment, where he was head of insurance.

Federated Hermes

The firm has appointed Michalis Ditsas as investment director of fixed income.

He joins the firm from AllianceBernstein, where he spent two years as a fixed income investment specialist.

Premier Miton

The investment firm has announced that Andy Jackson, manager of the Premier Miton UK Value Opportunities Fund, is retiring at the end of the year.

This follows a 35-year career and 6 years with the company.

The management of the fund will pass to Matthew Tillett who will join Premier Miton Investors from Allianz Global Investors in October as fund manager.

Tillett was previously the lead portfolio manager on the Allianz Global Investors UK-listed Opportunities strategy.

The savings, investment and protection provider announced that Mark Hartigan has confirmed his intention to step down as interim chief executive and a member of the board.

The process to appoint a permanent chief executive is already underway.

Hartigan has agreed that he will remain in his interim role while the search for his successor takes place.

Financial Ombudsman Service

James Dipple-Johnstone has been named deputy chief ombudsman and Karl Khan as chief operating officer of the service.

They will take up their roles by 3 October.

Natixis Investment Managers

Gad Amar has been promoted to head of distribution for western Europe.

Amar joined Natixis IM in October 2021 as international chief product officer.

Canada Life UK

The insurer has hired Cath Goddard as its head of data, insight and Customer relationship management (CRM).

Goddard joins from Aviva, where she was head of data, insight and planning and led customer segmentation, econometrics, customer-led proposition build and innovation for the business.

Crestbridge

The firm has appointed Anne Catherine Grave as country head of Luxembourg.

Prior to joining Crestbridge, Grave was the partner in charge of corporate secretarial services in Deloitte in Luxembourg.

April International

The specialist international private medical insurance provider has hired Agne Gacionyte as UK marketing manager and Roshani Thapa joins as broker sales consultant.

Gacionyte joins from Axa Health, where she held a senior marketing role. Roshani was previously with Aetna International, where she was responsible for providing support to the UK sales and retention teams for SME and large corporate accounts.

Sanlam Wealth

The firm, which will change its name to Atomos from September 2022, has named Paul Gordon as head of medical specialist wealth planners.

Prior to Sanlam Wealth, Gordon spent over 16 years at MacArthur Gordon and was previously at BMA Services for four years.

Boston Multi Family Office

The Isle of Man-headquartered firm has promoted three employees.

Mary Smith has been promoted to client accounting manager within its accounts team.

Helen Hall and Rachael Hughes have both been promoted to senior managers.

Robeco

The investment firm has hired Aliki Rouffiac as sustainable portfolio manager.

Rouffiac joins from Pictet, where she was a multi-asset investment manager.