Mercer has looked in-house (but offshore) to replace outgoing NZ head of wealth, Russell Garrett, who ended an 11-year stint with the firm last week.
In a note to clients, Mercer confirmed Adam McKenzie – currently partner and sales leader for the group’s Australian institutional business – would take up the NZ head of wealth role vacated by Garrett on July 1.
McKenzie returns to his home country after more than 20 years overseas, including the last 13 with Mercer in Melbourne and the UK.
“While I know Mercer well and already know a number of the Investments team in New Zealand, I’m looking forward to meeting our clients and all my colleagues there,” he said in the note.
Unlike the Wellington-based Garrett, McKenzie will operate from the Mercer Auckland office.
Garrett took up his new role as chief executive officer for the Presbyterian Church Property Trustees (PCPT) this month. PCPT, which has more than $1.4 billion of assets under management (mostly in property), uses Mercer to manage a portion of its funds.
Meanwhile, Mercer has lost an actuarial analyst to Auckland-headquartered consulting firm, Melville Jessup Weaver (MJW).
Ben Trollip, MJW partner, said the addition of former Mercer analyst, Fraser McKay, would add further depth to the firm’s actuarial strengths.
Trollip said MJW now boasted eight full-blooded actuaries on staff, including five partners, and – with the addition of McKay – six actuarial students.
“MJW has the largest actuarial resource of any NZ independent consulting firm and we’re committed to fostering future talent,” he said. “We’re pleased to bring Fraser on board our growing team.”
Also last week, Salt Funds Management revealed further in-and-out staff moves with former Jarden analyst, Tristan Joll, replacing Andrew Bolland in a senior analyst/associate portfolio manager position.
Bolland, part of the original Salt bunch that emerged out of BT Funds Management NZ in 2013, is moving to a similar role at the $1.3 billion Generate KiwiSaver business.
Henry Tongue, Generate chief, said Bolland would help run the manager’s significant in-house global equities portfolio but with a main focus on Australasian listed property and infrastructure equities.
Tongue said Generate manages almost half of its global equities exposure in-house (the rest is currently delegated to a pool of seven external managers). The fast-growing KiwiSaver scheme manages all of the Australasian listed property/infrastructure and fixed income portfolios internally.
Bolland, who was associate portfolio manager for the Salt listed property fund, will work alongside Generate lead portfolio manager, Sam Goldwater, Tongue and Dan Frost. The Generate investment committee also includes oversight from non-executive members Peter Brook (chair) and Nick Bowden.
Last month Salt appointed Paul Turnbull and Stephanie Mitchell to the newly-created roles of chief investment officer and head of data science, respectively. The twin appointments coincided with the exit of long-time Salt head of research, David Oxley.
Turnbull, like Salt’s latest hire, Joll, also arrived via the newly-christened Jarden (formerly FNZC).
In a statement, Salt managing director, Paul Harrison, said the three recent appointments “adds significant depth and firepower to our research”.
“Salt is firmly staking out its position in the research driven, active investment segment of the funds management market. We are in a rapidly changing world where the investment landscape is evolving at an exponential pace,” Harrison said in the release. “More than ever, we believe that active investment will add significant value over time to the financial outcomes of our clients. To deliver this, Salt is committed to investing in a highly skilled and experienced investment team.”
Finally last week, Castle Point Funds Management, named former NZX Funds head of risk and compliance, Anna Ong, to the newly-created role of chief operating officer. Ong spent less than a year in the senior NZX funds job but her association with the business dates back to 2010 when she joined SuperLife as finance manager.
The NZX bought SuperLife in 2014 for $35 million, eventually amalgamating the-then $1.7 billion superannuation and KiwiSaver business with its exchange-traded fund arm, Smartshares.