Russell Investments NZ has replenished its Auckland-based team with a trio of hires including a new head of institutional to replace Noah Schiltknecht, who left at the end of June to venture into an independent consultancy business.
Matthew Arnold steps into Schiltknecht’s shoes this week after relocating from Singapore, where he headed the local State Street exchange-traded fund (ETF) business.
In a note to clients, Alister Van der Maas, Russell NZ chief, says Arnold “will lead the consulting and implemented consulting teams, providing advice and implementation services to our clients”.
The move marks a return to home for Arnold following a 20-year career in various institutional funds management roles in the US, UK and, latterly, Singapore.
Prior to joining State Street UK in 2009 as a regional head of ETF sales, he held positions with BNP Paribas Investments, Allianz Global Investors, Ennis Knupp & Associates, and Goldman Sachs.
As well as Arnold, Russell has appointed two new analysts over the past few weeks including Mihir Tirodkar, a graduate about to complete his PhD specialising in environmental, social and governance (ESG) in finance.
“Mihir will be working with the local consulting and advisory teams servicing New Zealand clients,” Van der Maas says in the note. “In addition, he will also be assisting our Global Research team where he will be involved in foundational investment research.”
Mohamed Ayaz has also joined Russell as client service analyst. Ayaz, a recent Auckland University finance graduate, will be “delivering investment content to our clients”, the note says.
Meanwhile, the $40 billion plus Accident Compensation Commission (ACC) fund is searching for three “insightful” equity analysts
According to the job listing, the ACC fund is looking for a senior NZ equity analyst, an experienced large Australian shares specialist with both quantitative and fundamental research skills, and a global equity analyst.
“The key objectives of these positions are to undertake research and identify investment opportunities that will contribute towards ACC’s listed equity portfolios achieving risk adjusted that are superior to what ACC could achieve from passively investing in listed equity markets,” the job description says.
Headed by chief investment officer, Nicholas Bagnall, the ACC fund manages all NZ shares, most Australian equities and 20 per cent of its global share portfolio in-house.
The ACC 2018/19 third quarter report says the fund has a low probability of meeting a target return of 0.3 per cent above benchmark after costs. Over the nine months to March 31 this year, the ACC fund underperformed its bespoke benchmark after costs by 0.52 per cent.
However, in absolute terms the fund was up almost $3.4 billion for the period – well over the $1.16 billion budgeted figure.