M&G

M&G has appointed Fabiana Fedeli to the newly created role of chief investment officer, equities, reporting to M&G plc's chief investment officer, Jack Daniels.

The appointment follows M&G's commitment a year ago to revitalising its active equity investment capabilities, which has focussed on delivering more consistent investment performance and developing strategies to meet evolving customer and client needs.

With over 20 years of experience in the investment management industry, Fedeli joins from Robeco Asset Management where she was global head of fundamental equities; leading an international investment team managing a range of active equity strategies.

She had direct portfolio management responsibility for three of those strategies and has extensive experience of integrating sustainability and impact into investment processes. Prior to Robeco, Fabiana held a number of roles both in portfolio management and equity analysis in London, New York and Tokyo.

Daniels said: "Equities will always have an essential role to play in an investor's portfolio and we believe that active equity management will deliver greater value for clients over the long-term. Fabiana's appointment demonstrates our commitment to this vital asset class, bringing a wealth of investment experience in both equities and sustainability. Fabiana will be working with M&G's talented team of investors, to promote greater collaboration, idea-generation and innovation across the Equities division."

Fedeli, said: "M&G has a long heritage in active equity management, a strong culture and clear investment values. As our industry continues to evolve, it remains imperative for asset managers to anticipate and respond to our clients' needs. I look forward to working with the talented and experienced investment team to continue to develop M&G's equities proposition."

Fairway Group

Fairway Group has recently appointed Scott Nelson as a director for its growing trust business with responsibility for a mixed private client and corporate client base.

Nelson has twenty years' experience in the finance industry. Prior to joining Fairway, he worked at Accuro Trust (Jersey) Limited and most recently at Zedra Trust Company (Jersey) as an associate director focussing on corporate services.

Nelson said, "I am very pleased to be joining such a fast-moving and innovative business at a critical point in its growth."
Interim CEO Mark Hucker added, "His insights into the technologies and processes that are transforming the way we do business will be invaluable to our clients and to Fairway Group.

PGIM Investments

PGIM Investments has hired Steve Beckers as senior European sales manager for Belgium & Luxembourg, based in PGIM's Luxembourg office, effective immediately.

In this newly created role, Beckers will focus on developing the firm's presence with global, regional, and local private banks and financial intermediaries across Belgium and Luxembourg.

Additionally, Yvo van der Pol, previous head of Benelux for PGIM Investments, has been given an expanded role, adding responsibility for client coverage across the Nordics to become head of Benelux and Nordics, with Beckers reporting to him.

The enhancements further strengthen PGIM Investments' existing team of sales professionals located across Europe including London, Germany, Netherlands, and Switzerland.

Beckers joins from Invesco Asset Management, where he was the director for sales covering Belgium and Luxembourg. Prior to that, he held a number of roles at BNP Paribas Fortis including covering private banking as a discretionary investment manager.

Kimberly LaPointe, head of PGIM Investments International said: "This appointment further strengthens our commitment to the region, as the European market remains central to the expansion of our business globally. A dedicated presence for Belgium and Luxembourg also reflects the growing demand we are seeing from clients and we are delighted to welcome Steve to the team, whose local experience and knowledge will play a key role as we continue to deliver on client objectives."

Transamerica Life Bermuda

Transamerica Life (Bermuda) has named Ji Hsien Lim as its head of sales & distribution for its Singapore branch office.

As head of sales & distribution for TLB in Singapore, Lim will be responsible for leading the distribution team and executing the Company's distribution strategy in Singapore to drive profitable sales and accelerate business growth.

Lim will support and cultivate key relationships with brokers, private banks and other financial firms to further expand TLB's distribution channels.

He will report to TLB's global head of sales and distribution, Jeremy Young and TLB's Singapore chief executive, Benjamin Chua.
Lim was most recently at Prudential where he was Head of HNW Solutions, and prior to that he was at AIA Singapore where he served as their head of brokerage.

Young said: "We're delighted to have Ji Hsien join TLB. With his vast experience and strong business acumen, we are confident that he will become a pivotal and solid force on our distribution and Singapore leadership teams. His appointment further illustrates our commitment to the Singapore market as well as our ambition to be a leader in the HNW insurance space, and provider of choice for our business partners and customers."

RWC Partners

RWC Partners has announced that Simon Rogers is joining to cover Strategic Partners and relationships in the South East of England, and Georgia-Rae Fry, as national sales manager. Both will report to Gary Tuffield, head of European distribution.

Rogers brings more than 20 years of experience in the asset management industry. He joins from Artemis Fund Managers where he was head of Sales for South East, East Anglia, Midland IOM, North Ireland and South Africa.

In his new role, Rogers will focus on national advisory businesses, network service providers, platforms and managing regional clients together with Gary and the team.

Georgia-Rae Fry joins from Seven Investment Management where she spent five years, latterly as business development manager for the South East Region. Her role at RWC will be to support the advisory market across the UK, working closely with the regional sales managers.

Tuffield said: "Simon and Georgia-Rae join RWC at a particularly exciting time for us as we continue to see increasing client demand for a number of our capabilities across many key asset classes. We have seen strong growth in our wholesale offering as we have expanded our OEIC range beyond the existing

TM RWC UK Equity Income Fund and TM RWC Global Equity Income Fund with the recent launch of an emerging market OEIC managed by John Malloy."

Redhedge AM

Redhedge Asset Management, an FCA regulated investment manager, has hired Raj Dutta for the London team as the new head of business development.
Previous firms he has worked for included Salomon Brothers, Goldman Sachs, Union Bancaire Privee, Oxford Asset Management and Lombard Odier.

Dutta says: "Over the past five years, owing to its active and disciplined investment process, the team at Redhedge has demonstrated its outstanding ability to generate stable positive performance in any market environment, with extremely strong capital preservation during market drawdowns."

Neuberger Berman

Neuberger Berman has appointed Oliver Little to the new role of head of UK insurance solutions effective 1 July 2021.

Reporting to Gilles Drukier, head of insurance solutions EMEA, Little will construct and execute sales strategies on Neuberger Berman's significant product offering leveraging its London-based insurance analytics team, with the objective of expanding the group's insurance footprint in the UK.

Little joins from J.P. Morgan Asset Management, where he was a UK client advisor for the group's global insurance solutions business for more than five years. Prior to this, he spent eight years as an infantry officer in the British army and currently mentors interns with military backgrounds, encouraging them to pursue careers in finance.

Drukier said: "As an experienced insurance asset management professional, Oliver brings with him a strong network and a proven track record of delivering for clients as we look to raise visibility of our solutions in the UK."

PCB Corporate Finance

The technology and consulting-led M&A advisory firm, PCB Corporate Finance, has announced the appointment of Brett Newland as managing partner.
Before joining PCB Brett spent much of his career as a managing director in Accenture's corporate development and M&A teams, supporting the firm's largest and most complex transactions on both the buying and delivery side. His last role at Accenture was as chief Operating officer at their global security practice.

Newland said: "We're building something very special at PCB Corporate Finance. I'm delighted to have the opportunity to lead a great team of people and help us reach the next stage in our development."

PCB's Founder Ben Doltis added: "Time and time again Brett has shown how valuable he is to the growth of PCB Corporate Finance. We're already working with some of the world's leading companies and I'm certain with Brett as managing partner we'll soon be working with many more."

Quilter

Quilter is pleased to announce that Chris Samuel has been appointed as an independent non-executive director, with effect from 1 July 2021.

Samuel holds a number of chairmanships, including Quilter Financial Planning, the Group's financial advice arm, BlackRock Throgmorton Trust plc and JP Morgan Japanese Investment Trust plc. He is also a non-executive director of Alliance Trust PLC and UIL Limited.

He was chief executive of Ignis Asset Management, a business with circa. £65bn of assets under management, from 2009 to mid-2014.

Prior to this, he held board-level positions at a number of asset management businesses including Gartmore, Hill Samuel Asset Management and Cambridge Place Investment Management.

Samuel will join the Quilter Board Risk Committee and the Board Technology and Operations Committee.

Glyn Jones, chairman of the Quilter Board, said: "Chris has demonstrated strong leadership as he has chaired our advice business, Quilter Financial Planning, over the last year and I am delighted he has agreed to join the Quilter Board. Chris' deep experience and expertise as an executive and as a non-executive director in the asset management industry will enable him to make a strong contribution to the deliberations of the Quilter Board."

Blacktower FM

Gavin Pluck has been promoted to group managing director of Blacktower Financial Management.

He joined the firm in February 2021 as group director from Guardian Wealth Management, where he served as managing director until February 2020 when the company was acquired by SkyBound Capital.

Pluck succeeds the firm's founder and current group managing director John Westwood, who will take on the role of chairman to oversee the group's growth strategies and acquisition planning.

Westwood said: "I have the utmost confidence in Gavin's capabilities to skilfully lead the business through this time of tremendous growth and market opportunity. Already, Gavin has shown true dexterity in bolstering our industry position, and I look forward to watching his experience and expertise flourish in this most instrumental role within the Blacktower Group of Companies."