Watson Wyatt Investment Consulting (WWIC) has gone part of the way to replacing former director of investment manager research, Sean Henaghan, who moved to AMP’s Future Directions Fund in February.
Head of WWIC, David Neal, said most of Henaghan’s responsibilities would be taken by two “;mid-level”; consultants of around 6-8 years’ experience. The first of these Gignasa Patel, whom WWIC has this week hired away from Lonsec’s Australian equity manager research team, to become a senior member of its own research team specialising in Australian bond and equity managers. Prior to her stint at Lonsec, Patel spent six years researching equity and bond managers in Mercer Investment Consulting’s UK team. Neal said a new member of the client-facing consulting support team, of similar length of experience to Patel, would be hired as soon as the right person could be found.
There is one investment area where Insignia’s $180 billion super arm has not lost money for the past 17 years, which is what it calls the insurance-related investments. The alternatives strategy is gaining popularity among asset owners due to its diversification benefit, but Insignia’s super and asset management investment chief Dan Farmer warns it is a space where investors can suffer if they “stumble in without doing the homework”.
Darcy SongJanuary 23, 2025
