Who's Moving Where In Wealth Management? JP Morgan, Reyl Group

Editorial Staff

9 January 2019

JP Morgan Asset Management
has appointed Stephan Aepli to head a new external asset managers team, taking effect from 1 January 2019. He joins having been in a similar role at Swiss rival Mirabaud and will focus on structuring and promoting Reyl’s tailored offering for external managers and their clients, the bank announced yesterday.

The aim is to develop leading-edge expertise in quality, pricing, response time, and bring depth to this specific business segment, the group’s chief executive François Reyl said. “With more than 2,500 professionals and nearly SFr400 billion ($408 billion) under management, external asset managers are a key component of the Swiss financial sector. With an executive of Stephan Aepli’s calibre joining, we can address these needs and continue to expand our business.”

Aepli brings more than 25 years’ banking sector experience. From 2005, he led an external asset managers team at Mirabaud, and before that held positions at Lombard Odier, UBS Warburg, Singapore, and Société de Banque Suisse. He has a master's degree in economics from HEC Lausanne and an MBA from IMD Lausanne and will report in a director role to partner and head of wealth management Lorenzo Rocco di Torrepadula. Adding Aepli will “further develop a highly promising business segment and strengthen an important organic growth driver” for the group, said Di Torrepadula.

Aepli said his responsibilities will include addressing the needs of “a younger, more sophisticated client base”, including “offering specific services for entrepreneurs and their companies, new unlisted and alternative investment products, and innovative art lending solutions, in addition to the traditional custodian bank, advisory and back-office services”.

Legal & General Investment Management

(LGIM) has appointed Noareen Raja to head Middle East operations, with overall responsibility for client relationships in the region.

Reporting to Sarah Aitken, LGIM’s head of distribution, Raja will focus on strengthening the firm’s regional relationships as clients seek a broader range of investment solutions, including ESG strategies and multi-asset investing, the firm said yesterday.

Raja joins from JP Morgan Asset Management, where she spent nine years in the Sovereign Sales Group, working with central banks, sovereign wealth funds and government pension funds across the Middle East. She will be based in the firm’s London office.

It is the latest in a series of senior hires for LGIM as it broadens its presence in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The wealth manager has around £985 billion ($1.25 billion) in assets under management.