Jarden has hired ASB investment strategy manager, Chris Wilson, as part of a pre-Christmas recruitment bonanza at the broking house.
Following a long career at ASB, Wilson joins Jarden as head of portfolio strategy for the wealth management team. He was a among five senior Jarden appointments announced on Christmas Eve.
“Chris will be assisting advisers design and manage portfolios, conduct on-going analysis of client portfolios, deliver training and guidance on portfolio management and assist in the management of larger, more complex mandates,” Jarden says in a release.
As well as Wilson, Jarden lured new staff from Craigs Investment Partners, Milford Asset Management and the UK to fill new roles, including:
- Malcolm Jackson as group chief financial officer;
- Jennifer Gibbs, wealth management head of advisory assurance;
- Julian Braithwaite, wealth management head of operational excellence; and,
- Jeremy Ward, wealth research head of global equities.
Jackson, previously the London-based managing director of investment firm TPG Capital, has been handed a “clear mandate as to how Jarden achieves Trans-Tasman scale across Wealth & Asset Management”, the statement says.
Last year Jarden made a big push into the Australian investment banking market, poaching a number of high-profile staff to establish a presence across the Tasman.
Gibbs was previously quality advice manager at Craigs while Braithwaite held a compliance role at Milford. Ward returns to NZ from the UK where he was most recently a global equities portfolio manager at boutique Coutts & Co Asset Management.
In the release, Jarden says: “High quality, personalised, bespoke Wealth advice and asset management are some of the key pillars for the Jarden Group, as we look to next decade we continue to believe that there is significant opportunity to invest and create Australasia’s’ leading independent Investment and Advisory firm.”
Elsewhere, former NZ Funds principal, David van Schaardenberg, has ended an almost 18-month shift at accountancy-based financial services firm, Findex.
After a more than 20-year career with NZ Funds, van Schaardenberg jumped ship to Findex in August 2019 to spearhead the group’s investment advice business.
For the immediate future, van Schaardenberg said he would focus on managing the portfolio of his family trust.
Findex, one of Australia’s largest privately-owned financial services businesses, entered the NZ market in 2015 after buying the Australasian assets of accountancy firm, Crowe Horwath.
Immediately prior to joining Findex, van Schaardenberg was head of the NZ Funds private wealth arm, which includes about 15 advisers and $460 million under advice.
Before joining NZ Funds in 1997, van Schaardenburg was executive director at research house, FundSource, ultimately owning the company that was sold to the NZX in 2006 for more than $900,000. The NZX offloaded FundSource to Australian firm, Zenith Partners, this June for an estimated $325,000.