Former ANZ funds chief investment officer, Paul Huxford, has returned to the Macquarie fold after a more than 16-year hiatus from the Australian financial mega-firm.
Huxford, who served almost six years with ANZ ending last December, is now CIO for the Macquarie wealth management arm in a newly created position.
His investment responsibilities include the Macquarie wrap platform, which alone boasts assets under management of about A$125 billion.
Previously, he held equity research roles with Macquarie from 2000 to 2007 in Auckland, Australia and Singapore following stints at BT and Deutsche in NZ.
Post Macquarie part one, Huxford worked in senior equities research positions for JP Morgan in the UK for over seven years before replacing Graham Ansell as ANZ CIO in 2018.
He resigned ANZ last August as the manager announced tentative agreements with Mercer and BlackRock to supply investment services to the $30 billion plus group – with a five-month transition period to the end of 2023.
Macquarie wealth head of investment strategy, Jason Todd, left the business last November ahead of a business restructure in the division.
Meanwhile, another trans-Tasman traveller, ex Trustees Executors (TE) chief, Ryan Bessemer, has popped up as a technology adviser to the start-up back-office services business, The Fund Alliance.
Launched by former TE chief operating officer, Geoff Rimmer, last year, The Fund Alliance aims to help fund managers, superannuation and KiwiSaver firms in Australia and NZ tap into best-of-breed back-office products such as custody and administration via a ‘buyers group’.
Bessemer, who decamped back to Australia last November after almost six years heading TE, is also chief executive for the Melbourne-headquartered, blockchain-based digital identity firm, ShareRing.
Elsewhere, NZ fintech pioneer, Binu Paul, has secured an independent advisory part-time gig with the digital asset industry body, CryptoUK.
Paul, who was previously head of digital assets for the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), will “help drive the organisation’s strategic growth”, according to a statement.
Su Carpenter, CryptoUK operations director, said in the release that Paul brings a “fresh perspective to be a driving force for positive enhancements for our members and help to push forward our mission to make the UK the ‘go to’ jurisdiction for crypto and digital asset businesses”.
Prior to assuming the FCA short-term position in 2022, he was fintech lead for the Financial Markets Authority following a long career in the NZ funds sector including with Nikko Asset Management.
Also last week, seminal Australian boutique fund manager, Maple-Brown Abbott (MBA), has named Melanie McQuire as acting chief executive following the surprise departure of incumbent, Sophia Rahmani.
Rahmani stepped down effective immediately to take up the managing director job at Magellan with a start date somewhere between May and August this year.
She has headed MBA since 2019 after a seven-year career in senior executive positions with Janus Henderson and predecessor firm, Henderson Global Investors.
Current Magellan executive chair, Andrew Formica, was a former chief executive at Henderson and co-CEO of Janus Henderson.
McQuire joined MBA in 2020 as chief operating officer from Lazard Asset Management.
According to a MBA statement: “The role of Maple-Brown Abbott Limited CEO and managing director does not include direct investment responsibilities and these will continue to be fulfilled by chief investment officer Garth Rossler and the relevant heads of investment strategies.
“Maple-Brown Abbott Global Listed Infrastructure Pty Limited continues to be managed as a discrete entity by its managing director and other co-founders, and there will be no changes to the management or operations of this business.”
MBA is well-known in the NZ market, landing a substantial listed infrastructure mandate with ANZ Investments in 2019.
Finally, long-time Annuitas general manager schemes, Philippa Drury, completed a 21-year shift with the Wellington-based organisation last month.
Drury has managed the schemes for the more than $5 billion Government Superannuation Fund and the almost $2 billion National Provident Fund since 2003 – covering almost the entire modern era of the state-backed defined benefit vehicles.
She remains a licensed independent trustee – one of a current crop of 34 governance specialists serving the restricted scheme sector.
Ireen Muir, who joined Annuitas in 2021, is listed as the new general manager schemes.