While much ado is made of the science that goes into fund manager research, real assessment puts comparable weight on the art as well according to investment leaders.
While financials and materials dominated trades leading into 2024, the popularity of other sectors like healthcare and information technology followed generational, and even demographic, lines.
Magellan sales chief to retire, GQG promotes talent
With the RBA moving rates up another 50bps to 1.35 per cent, investors are sitting on the sidelines waiting to see if its punch was hard enough to contain inflation.
This week marks the start of a fresh financial year and with it brings fresh activity to the job market as contract roles finish up and new goals are set. It’s also a time when employees may finish up at a firm, decide to move on or begin a new career. A new financial year prompts people to start looking for a new career. And with the labour market running tight, there’s no shortage of job openings out there.
There have been a few key movements this week, particularly at the top of some of Australia’s largest financial services groups.
Magellan Financial Group’s Frank Casarotti will retire as head of distribution after being with the company for 15 years. He joined the company in its early days, one year after Hamish Douglass and Chris Mackay founded the firm.
During his tenure, he gained stardom status at Magellan, as he helped transform Magellan from a small asset manager into the largest fund manager in the country. Frank said, “I am very proud to have built such a strong distribution team with outstanding people. I am confident they won’t miss a beat after my eventual departure in December 2023.” Shares in Magellan sank 9.9 percent on the announcement this week.
GQG Partners has appointed Justin Murray as director of distribution for New South Wales. He joins the team having come from Colonial First State, where he was business development manager, platforms. Muray has a strong understanding of the financial services industry and the financial advice market in NSW. They have also promoted from within, moving James Anders, Brian Kersmanc and Sudarshan Murthy into portfolio manager positions within the firm.
Abhishek Chhikara will join IFM Investors as director of the business transformation. In his last role at Right Lane Consulting, he led the superannuation and institutional investor practice for six years.
Melbourne fintech platform OpenInvest has hired ex Pendal Group senior BDM Andrew Rutter to its team. He joins the OpenInvest team as a senior consultant helping the start-up take the digital investing solution to wealth management firms and dealer groups.
Arjun Shanker has joined ETF Securities as a business development manager to strengthen its sales team across Victorian and Tasmanian accounts. Based in Melbourne, he will report to Kanish Chugh, head of distribution for ETF Securities. Shanker worked as a financial planner at NAB, Westpac, ANZ and Australian Financial Planning Group. In his last role, he was a BDM at Lincoln Indicators.
Jason Collins has been appointed to head up iShares and index investments for the Australian and New Zealand at BlackRock Australasia. Collins has a wealth of knowledge and in-depth understanding of the needs of all Australian investors from wealth advisers building model portfolios for their clients to superannuation funds looking to build scale and access global insights.
Hostplus has appointed Damien Frawley as its independent chair. The $89 billion superannuation fund will replace David Elmslie, whose tenure ended this June. Frawley has over 35 years of experience in the financial services sector.
