Alexander Forbes/Sanlam
A week after South African financial advice and wealth management firm Alexander Forbes sacked its group chief executive, it has named his replacement.
The firm terminated the services of Andrew Darfoor with immediate effect, citing a loss of confidence and trust. He is challenging his dismissal and has taken his case to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.
Darfoor’s successor, however, has already been named as the chief executive of Sanlam Employee Benefits (SEB), Dawie de Villiers. The speed at which he was replaced suggests the board has been planning this for some time.
A statement from SEB confirmed that de Villiers had resigned and will leave the firm on 31 October “to pursue another growth opportunity in the industry”.
SEB has appointed Jocelyn Hathaway as acting chief executive until a permanent appointment is made. She has been with Sanlam since 2011 and currently holds the position of head of finance and operations at Sanlam Corporate.
Fidelity International
After a career spanning over 40 years, fixed income portfolio manager Ian Spreadbury has decided to retire from Fidelity International at the end of 2018. He joined the investment firm in 1995.
His departure means Sajiv Vaid, a fixed income portfolio manager with over 20 years’ experience, will become lead manager on the Fidelity MoneyBuilder Income and Fidelity Extra Income Funds.
Kristian Atkinson will support Vaid as co-manager on the Fidelity MoneyBuilder Income Fund and the Fidelity Short Dated Corporate Bond Fund. Peter Khan will also support Vaid as co-manager of the Fidelity Extra Income Fund.
Tim Foster and Claudio Ferrarese will assume joint responsibility for the Fidelity Strategic Bond Fund and Fidelity Funds (Sicav) Flexible Bond Fund.
M&G Prudential
In the latest step in the planned demerger of M&G Prudential from Prudential plc, Mike Evans has been named chair of M&G Prudential.
Evans has 36 years of savings and investments experience and has served as chairman of Hargreaves Lansdown. He has also worked as chief operating officer of Skandia UK.
State Street Global Advisors
Matteo Andreetto has been appointed senior managing director and head of the SPDR ETF business for Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea), effective immediately.
Based in London, he will lead the ETF sales teams across the region. Andreetto joins from Stoxx, part of Deutsche Börse Group, where most recently he was chief executive and head of index services.
Aviva Investors
The global asset management business of Aviva has appointed Susan Schmidt as head of US equities, expanding Aviva Investors’ geographical footprint in the asset class after nine hires to its UK, global and emerging market equities teams in July.
These appointments follow the arrival in January 2018 of David Cumming as chief investment officer, equities.
Schmidt has over 25 years’ experience in the investment industry and will be based in Chicago. Prior to Aviva Investors, she spent three years as a senior portfolio manager covering small and mid-cap US equities for investment management company Westwood Holdings Group.
Kleinwort Hambros
As part of its strategy to further grow its offering in the Channel Islands, wealth manager Kleinwort Hambros has named Matt Falla as head of private banking, Guernsey and deputy head of private banking, Channel Islands.
Based in Guernsey, Falla will build the business strategy to provide banking and investment solutions to domestic, international clients and financial intermediaries. He began his new role in March 2018 and reports into Clive Wright, head of private banking Channel Islands.
HSBC Global Asset Management
HSBC Gam has strengthened its fixed income offering with two hires.
Oliver Boulind joins from Aberdeen Asset Management where, in his most recent role, he developed and implemented the asset allocation process used to manage global aggregate and total return bond portfolios, as well as managing traditional benchmark-driven global credit strategies.
Richard Balfour joins from Barings, where he was an investment manager on the multi-sector fixed income team, managing a range of global bond portfolios. Prior to this, he was a portfolio manager at Credit Suisse Asset Management, initially managing money market and short duration bond funds, before taking on responsibility for the firm’s UK gilt portfolios.
