Vanguard has identified its new chief executive, while Aberdeen Asset Management has appointed a head of Luxembourg and named two heavy-hitting independent non-executive directors to the board of Aberdeen Life. AJ Bell has a new technical director.
Vanguard has created a new head of European distribution (ex-UK) role, while Middle East bank Emirates NBD has lost its chief investment officer for the second time. VAM Funds has hired an ex-Zurich heavy hitter to make a Middle East push.
Plans by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority to crackdown on excessive asset management fund charges and improve competitiveness in the sector has been met with a flurry of contradictory responses from different parts of the financial services industry.
Vanguard’s launch of a new investment service in the UK market signals a “pivotal moment” in the push for lower charges across the asset management industry.
Vanguard has a new managing director of its Japanese operations, while Generali Investments has made some changes to its board. One of Wealth Club’s co-founders has left the business after just a year.
BlackRock and Vanguard have called on US officials to delay the introduction of landmark rules forcing financial advisers to act in the best interests of their clients, raising concerns the new regulations will confuse investors and add unnecessary costs to the financial service industry.
Warren Buffett, the ‘Oracle of Omaha’, has attacked the high fees levied by active fund managers while lavishing praise on his “hero”, Vanguard founder Jack Bogle.
Financial advisers in the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, Canada and the US have reported that working in the industry is getting harder mainly due to regulatory changes, and they expect to see a shake-out in the next three to five years, according to a survey by Vanguard.
Axa Life Insurance has lost its head of international brokers in Singapore, while the private banking arms of HSBC and JP Morgan have named regional heads of various European countries.
Seeking returns from some of Japan’s undervalued big companies, replicating indices, and using a benchmark-agnostic approach are some of the favoured strategies of Japanese funds with substantial assets under management.
The European ETF market hit a new record in terms of total funds under management last year though the flow of money in the asset class slowed from the record levels of 2015, according to new data from Thomson Reuters Lipper.
Brooks Macdonald’s co-founder is to step down as chief executive after 25 years, with his replacement coming from HSBC. Principal Global Investors has named a new head of funds distribution for Asia, while Vanguard has also shuffled its Asian operations, with a focus on China.
