The asset management giant has announced chief financial officer and director Richard Keers has decided to retire.

Keers will leave Schroders on 31 December 2023.

Richard Oldfield will succeed Keers as both chief financial officer and as a director of the company on 2 October 2023.

Oldfield is currently vice chairman and global markets leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) leading all market-facing activities, initiatives, and strategy.

Also, Schroders has hired Iain Mackay as an independent non-executive director, effective 1 January 2024.

He will also join the audit and risk committee and the nominations committee. Mackay is currently chief financial officer at GSK plc and was previously chief financial officer of HSBC Holdings.

Nucleus

The wrap platform has named Laura Barnes as director of business development.

She joins from Parmenion, where she was head of intermediary distribution for almost three years with responsibility for sales strategy and growth.

Royal London

The UK life, pensions and investment mutual has appointed Ronnie Binnie as head of strategic partnerships. He will be based in Edinburgh.

Binnie joins from Evelyn Partners, where he was managing partner and head of office, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

Lombard Odier

Amer Malik has been named local managing director of the bank’s Dubai office.

He has over two decades of experience working for financial institutions in the US and the Middle East, including Julius Baer and HSBC Private Bank.

Pictet

The wealth manager has appointed Raymond Sagayam as its 47th managing partner in the 218-year history of the firm, effective 1 January 2024.

Sagayam joined Pictet Asset Management (PAM) in 2010 as head of total return fixed income. He was then appointed chief investment officer of fixed income for PAM and a member of its executive committee in 2017.

In addition to these responsibilities, he was named equity partner of the group in 2018 and head of PAM London in 2022.

Impax Asset Management

The specialist asset manager has named Yasumitsu (Yasu) Iwasa as head of Japan.

Prior to joining Impax in March 2023, he was head of Japan at Fullerton Fund Management, an asset management arm of Temasek Group.

Jupiter Fund Management

Non-executive chair Nichola Pease has stepped down with immediate effect.

Pease has quit for personal reasons, according to a stock exchange announcement on 26 April.

She has been replaced in the role by David Cruickshank, independent non-executive director and chair of the audit and risk committee.

Karl Sternberg will step in to act as interim chair of the audit and risk committee, while Roger Yates will join it. The appointments remain subject to regulatory approval.

Jupiter said at least one new independent non-executive director will be added to the board at a later date.

Knight Frank

Henry Faun, head of the firm’s private office in the Middle East, has relocated to London.

Faun will continue in his current role as head of the region but will now be based out of Knight Frank’s headquarters, travelling frequently into the Gulf to serve his clients from the Middle East.

Knight Frank will continue to have a private office presence in the Middle East with associate partner Paul Sacco based in Dubai.

Excello Law

Katie Brassington has joined the national consultancy law firm based in Chester.

Qualifying in 2004, Katie has over 18 years’ experience advising individuals, families, trustees and business owners across Cheshire and north Wales.

She joined Excello from Knights where she headed up their private client team in Chester.

The international savings and investment business has named Andrea Rossi as its chief executive and executive director.

He was chief executive of Axa Investment Managers.

Rossi will take up the position on 10 October 2022, succeeding John Foley who, in April 2022, announced his intention to retire after seven years in the role.

Foley will step down as chief executive and executive director on 10 October 2022, but will remain at M&G in an advisory capacity until 31 December 2022 in order to ensure an orderly transition.

Pictet

The private banking group has appointed Victor Aerni as chief executive of its wealth management business in Asia, effective 1 July 2023.

He is a replacement for Tee Fong Seng, who will remain on the board of directors of Bank Pictet & Cie (Asia) as vice chairman.

Aerni is currently serving as head of Pictet’s wealth management business in German speaking Switzerland.

Meanwhile, Pictet has also appointed Evelyn Yeo, who currently serves as head of Asia investments, as deputy chief executive of the bank’s Singaporean banking entity.

Yeo’s appointment is effective 1 January and she will continue in her current position as well. She has over 20 years industry experience and previously worked at Julius Baer and UBS.

GPP

The financial services provider subsidiary of Titan Wealth has appointed Geoff Towers as its chief executive.

He was previously chief executive of BNY Mellon’s Pershing business.

Towers replaces Julian Parker as chief executive of GPP. Parker is co-founder of GPP and will remain in the business as executive chair, continuing to be actively involved in its sales strategy.

Jupiter

A spokesperson for the fund manager confirmed to our sister publication Portfolio Adviser that Talib Sheikh, head of multi-asset strategies, and Joseph Chapman, investment manager, multi-asset, are set to leave the firm at the end of this year.

Sheikh joined from JP Morgan Asset Management in 2018 after nearly 20 years at the US-headquartered firm. He currently runs three unit trusts and a trio of Sicavs at Jupiter.

Chapman will leave Jupiter after 12 years, having joined the firm from Golders Associates, where he worked as an IT consultant.

Spring IM

The investment manager has appointed Chantal Botterill as chief operating officer.

Botterill was previously a director and chief operating officer at Jersey-based Vantage.

Ocorian

The financial services group has promoted Renata Zrobek as chief people officer.

Zrobek was previously HR director at the group.

Unique Financial Planning

The advice firm has named Vanessa Scott as chief operating officer.

Scott has previously held senior operations roles at Openwork, Zurich, and Legal and General Investment Management.

GSB

The global wealth firm has named Naomi Wharam-Adatia as private client director.

She was previously associate, private banking at UBP.

IQ-EQ

The financial services provider has hired Nicola Gott as managing director of its Jersey business.

Prior to joining IQ-EQ, she was managing director of Oak Group.

Cartlidge Morland

The wealth manager has recruited Eric Williamson as an investment manager based in its London office.

Williamson previously worked at Tam Asset Management, where he was an investment manager.

Evelyn Partners

The wealth manager has hired Jonathan Badcoe as an investment manager and will focus primarily on advisory clients at Evelyn Partners’ London offices.

He has joined from Investec Wealth & Investments, where he was investment director.

Columbia Threadneedle Investments

Pieter van Stijn has joined the global asset manager as responsible investment product specialist.

Van Stijn worked in the responsible investment team between 2018 – 2021 at BMO GAM Emea, since acquired by Columbia Threadneedle.

Navigation Wealth Management

The Yorkshire-based financial advice firm has hired Kate Ingle, James Cunningham and Leanne Urquhart to join its adviser support team.

Ingle comes to the firm, having previously been a manager in a FTSE 100 leisure and entertainment company. Cunningham joins the firm after he was previously a former primary school teacher.

Urquhart has been promoted in the client experience team.

According to Paolini, the global economy approaching the end of its expansionary phase, tighter financial conditions, a peak in US jobs growth and larger output gaps all point to a recession within the next years.

However, while in this environment Pictet expects returns from equity markets to fall, Paolini said its research shows that double-digit opportunities are achievable across emerging markets and other high-risk assets in the alternatives spectrum.

“Beyond commodities, we see value in gold, infrastructure, real estate and private equity which will require plotting a new course for investors in terms of asset allocation,” he said.

“Emerging market stocks – Chinese equities in particular – look attractive, while emerging market bonds’ income-boosting potential is enhanced by what we believe will be a steady appreciation in developing world currencies.”

Commodities

With investors increasingly hunting for inflation-beating returns, Paolini said over the next five years commodities outside of the energy complex could prove fruitful.

“Our analysis shows real estate and private equity should each outperform developed market equities over our five-year forecast horizon boosting a portfolio’s return, while gold and infrastructure help diversify its sources of risk,” he said.

Looking at the prospects for developed markets, Paolini said they face a squeeze on corporate profit margins going forward.

“With wages and raw materials prices rising, more stringent regulations adding to the costs of doing business and the prospect of rising corporate taxation, margins, we believe, are set to fall across all major markets,” he said.

“Outside of the US, returns from developed market fixed income will fall below inflation over the next five years.”

Short-lived inflation

While inflation continues to hit new highs, Paolini said it is the belief of Pictet that the surge seen this year will broadly prove to be relatively short-lived.

However, he added that higher volatility of outcomes will persist ranging between 2% and 3% across much of the developed world.

“As supply bottlenecks caused by Covid start to unblock, and the impact on commodity prices of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine begins to fade, price pressures will dissipate,” he said.

While remaining neutrally weighted in both global equities and global bonds, Luca Paolini, chief strategist at Pictet, said China’s worst covid outbreak in two years is causing serious disruption to the economy.

“China is the worst-performing equity market,” said Paolini. “Investors are increasingly worried about the economic slowdown at a time when the Peoples Bank of China (PBoC) appears to be reluctant to deliver large-scale monetary easing.”

As a result, while noting that Chinese stock valuations are at levels that now look historically attractive, for Paolini they are not compelling enough to fully compensate for risks from Beijing’s zero-covid policy, last year’s regulatory crackdown or the lack of aggressive monetary stimulus.

“Hence, we are cutting Chinese equities to neutral from overweight – a move that is reinforced by our simultaneous downgrade of the renminbi to underweight,” he said.

On the bright side

In contrast, Pictet continues to be optimistic on UK equities, where Paolini said commodity exporters and defensive companies should help them outperform peers despite a slowdown in the economy.

“We remain underweight US equities,” he added. “Unattractive valuations, a Fed intent on aggressively raising rates and a strong US dollar all augur badly for American markets, which have a relatively high exposure to growth-sensitive stocks.”

In terms of fixed income, after a “brutal” first quarter, Paolini said the signs are that value is beginning to emerge in global bonds.

“We remain neutral, but that stance might soon change as we expect to see a peak in inflation expectations over the coming months,” he said. “For now, we restrict ourselves to upgrading Swiss bonds to neutral from underweight.”

At the same time, Paolini said Pictet has downgraded their position in euro-denominated investment grade bonds to underweight from neutral.

“Higher spreads are insufficient to compensate for the risk of recession in the region and of European Central Bank tightening in the second half of the year,” he explained.

The main reasons for not investing in sustainable vehicles include “scepticism about the returns of ESG products”, “none of my friends and peers invest in ESG products”, and “do not care about negative ESG impact”.

Presenting the survey findings at a media briefing attended by our sister publication Fund Selector Asia, Tam Kar Yan, dean of the School of Business and Management at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST Business School), said the key to promoting sustainable investing is in education.

This includes increasing ESG awareness among the Hong Kong population, starting with potential investors, educating the public with the “correct concepts” about ESG investing, and getting the younger generation on board with ESG investing.

Freeman Tsang, head of intermediaries, Asia ex Japan at Pictet Asset Management, echoed Tam’s views that investors’ education on sustainability is crucial.

“For asset managers, we can work with third parties like HKUST to understand our potential clients. Then we can enhance our education through public media, our website, and distributors to attract more attention,” he said.

Pictet Asset Management and the HKUST Business School conducted a survey at the beginning of the year and collected 3,770 responses across different social demographic sectors.

Findings

Individuals with higher monthly income are more aware of ESG, the research found. Among those who earn HK$70,000 (£6,783, $8,946, €8,139) and above in monthly income, 47.8% are aware of ESG investing, compared with 28.2% of those with monthly income below HK$70,000.

“ESG is currently not a familiar concept among the Hong Kong population with only a very small fraction currently investing in ESG products,” said Tam.

“Given the importance of ESG in shaping a better world and building a sustainable future, there is a strong need to increase the society’s awareness of ESG.”

The top reasons to invest in ESG products are: “ESG is the trend to come and I want to capture the opportunities”, “ESG investment brings long-term benefits to the company. environment and society”, and “the focuses of ESG products align with my personal values”.

Lack of action

While some investors are aware of ESG investing, the survey also found there is a gap between awareness and action, with only 5% of the respondents currently investing in ESG products.

But more than half of those who are currently not investing in ESG products, although aware of it, are planning to invest in ESG products within the next 12 months.

Among potential ESG investors, close to 75% of them expect to allocate 10% to 40% of their total investments to ESG products.

The survey also found that a significant percentage of investors (73.8%) who are not invested in ESG strategies now are willing to consider allocating to ESG products if they can contribute to sustainable development and bring more positive environment and social impact.

“Globally, strong demand [for ESG products] is shifting from institutions to private banks and retail investors. Hong Kong investors show highest interest in themes on global environmental opportunities and clean energy,” said Tsang.

“Looking ahead we expect themes related to the ‘social’ aspect in ESG to gain more attention, such as those investing in smart city and the future of food.”

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