Kiwi Invest head of wholesale sales, Matthew Laing, has left the business after an almost 18-month stint with the government-owned enterprise.
Laing joined Kiwi Invest (sister firm of Kiwi Wealth) late in 2019 to spearhead growth in the local wholesale market for the group’s suite of global shares, fixed income and cash funds.
The Kiwi Invest wholesale effort is headed by Peter Verhaart, who initially joined the-then Gareth Morgan Investments in 2016 as head of implemented investment before stepping up to lead the newly formed wholesale division in 2019.
It is understood Laing had picked up several wholesale mandates of late, particularly in the iwi sector.
Prior to joining Kiwi Invest he served over a year as head of distribution for Salt Funds Management following a long career in the NZ investment industry.
Laing was director of First State Investments NZ (now known as First Sentier) for about five years beginning in July 2012 after working as Axa Investment Managers NZ head of wholesale for two years.
He was under contract to Kiwi Invest with the initial term ending on May 31.
Kiwi Wealth, meanwhile, is preparing for the new default KiwiSaver regime in December in the wake of its reappointment last month. Along with the three other returning incumbents and two new default providers (Simplicity and Smartshares), Kiwi Wealth will have to create a new fossil fuel-less balanced fund while also gearing up to accept a large influx of members from the five sacked schemes.
In other news last week, the NZ Superannuation Fund (NZS) promoted George Crosby to fill the general manager portfolio completion role left vacant by Mark Fennell.
Crosby, currently NZS head of portfolio investments, will shift to the new job on July 5 just as Fennell takes up the recently created general manager risk position.
NZS rewired its senior management structure this April ahead of the departure of veteran head of finance and risk, Stewart Brooks – splitting his duties into finance and investment operations (hiring Paula Steed) and the risk gig filled by Fennell.
According to a NZS release, Crosby “traded various derivatives books at Westpac, BNP Paribas and Toronto Dominion Bank in Wellington and London” before joining the now $57 billion plus sovereign wealth fund in 2008.
NZS planned to start recruiting for the head of portfolio investments role “shortly”.
Elsewhere, Northern Trust has named current Australia country head, Angelo Calvitto, to lead its Asia-Pacific asset servicing business.
Calvitto, who joined Northern Trust in 2008, will replace the retiring William Mak. Based in Singapore, Mak spent 11 years in the Northern Trust APAC role.
In a release, the company says Calvitto would “drive the growth and development of Northern Trust’s asset servicing business serving institutional clients across central banks, sovereign wealth funds, public pension funds, government agencies, investment management firms, insurance companies and other large sophisticated global institutions”.
Peter Cherecwich, Northern Trust president of corporate and institutional services, says in the statement: “The Asia-Pacific region is a leading centre for technology innovation, with Singapore as a key hub, particularly for our blockchain initiatives. More broadly, we continue to see significant demand for our entire range of asset servicing solutions across the region.”
Northern Trust is the main custodian for the NZS.
Finally last week, BlackRock Australia has bundled up its exchange-traded fund (ETF) and other investment offerings into a single structure, headed by Chantal Giles.
Previously BlackRock Australia head of wealth and banks, Giles assumes the new head of iShares Wealth Australasia role as well as whole portfolio services for the group’s wealth management, bank and platform clients in the region with responsibilities for distribution of the organisation’s alpha-seeking strategies, index, and iShares ETF products.
At the same time, James Kingston takes on the iShares Australasia head job, replacing Christian Obrist, who moves to head of distribution Asia (ex Japan) for the world’s biggest ETF business.
Jason Collins, BlackRock Australasia head of client business, said in a release: “Our ability to work with clients across a range of investment types – index, active, multi-asset and alternatives – and deliver this via various structures, gives BlackRock a unique ability to partner with firms as they seek to curate and provide leading investment options to their end clients.”
Giles, a former financial planner with the now defunct Financial Wisdom dealer group, has spent over 14 years at BlackRock Australia in various guises.