Former Smartshares head of institutional, Thom Bentley, is back in the saddle at the NZX-owned funds management group now known as Smart.
Bentley returned to the stock exchange funds subsidiary last week as head of business development, covering a wider brief than his previous almost three-year stint ending in April 2021 that focused on institutions.
After leaving Smartshares he spent about 18 months as the inaugural NZ hire for Australian exchange-traded fund (ETF) specialist, Betashares, ahead of its formal launch on this side of the Tasman.
Most recently, Bentley was distribution partner for commercial property debt firm, Pallas Capital, following a prior 18-month stretch as head of the NZ business for Australian private credit manager, iPartners.
“I’m looking forward to reconnecting with former colleagues, meeting new ones, and to getting out on the road to bring the Smart and QuayStreet story to our partners and investors,” he said in a statement.
Smart reported about $13 billion under management as at the end of October across its ETF, unit trust, KiwiSaver and superannuation business (SuperLife) and most recent acquisition, QuayStreet.
Elsewhere last week, Fisher Funds upgraded Rebekah Swan from a consultancy role to the full-time job as general manager responsible investments.
The ex AMP Capital/Macquarie Asset Management NZ head took up a fixed term contract responsible investment specialist position at Fisher last June.
Fisher published its first investment stewardship report this year, outlining its approach to ESG and formal outcomes such as proxy votes and corporate engagements.
The $24 billion manager also uses the Columbia Threadneedle Investments’ Responsible Engagement Overlay for global assets.
Swan’s appointment follows a number of senior hires and executive level moves since new chief, Simon Power, took over from retiring predecessor, Bruce McLachlan, this February.
But the recruitment process continues as Fisher looks for a new head of trading to replace Angela Quirk, who left in August. Quirk later popped up as a minority shareholder in a new venture headed by ex Fisher fixed income head, David McLeish.
Another Fisher fixed income portfolio manager, Lyle McNee, resigned last month to join McLeish as co-founder of Wedge Management.
On LinkedIn, McLeish said that Wedge “is a specialist cash and fixed income fund manager set to launch the first in a new breed of savings products to the New Zealand public in early 2025”.
Meanwhile, Apex Investment Administration (formerly MMC) is on the hunt for a new head of risk to fill the gap left by incumbent, Clayton Adams.
Adams has shifted to the newly created role as Apex NZ head of compliance.
Both the NZ head of compliance and risk roles report to Mike Christian, Apex APAC head of risk. The NZ-based Christian joined MMC in 2020 after the firm bought the ASB investment platform, Aegis, where he was head of risk and compliance starting in November 2019.
Also last week across the Tasman, JBWere chief, Maria Lykouras, has left the business after just over two years in the job following a restructure of the National Australia Bank-owned (NAB) wealth arm.
Under the new arrangement, NAB private wealth chief, Michael Saadie, assumes direct oversight of the historic high-end JBWere network.
“NAB Private Wealth is evolving to ensure we’re delivering the best experience for our high-net-worth clients,” Saadie said in a statement.
JBWere Australia chief investment officer, Sally Auld, will take up a broader role post the restructure as one of two senior executives in the advisory group reporting to Saadie: the bank is currently recruiting for the second JBWere senior leadership spot.
The Australian JBWere shake-up comes just months after a similar chief executive amalgamation at its namesake business in NZ. In August, JBWere NZ chief, Craig Patrick, took on the dual role as head of the Jarden wealth arm.
Both the NZ JBWere and Jarden advisory networks are part of the FirstCape group – a conglomerate 45 per cent-owned by an entity controlled by NAB subsidiary, BNZ, with Pacific Equity Partners and Jarden holding respective 35 per cent and 20 per cent in the business.
FirstCape also houses Harbour Asset Management, which now incorporates the BNZ KiwiSaver and investments division.