Australian Mark Armour has beat out international competition to win the role as head of the $US200 billion plus worldwide institutional business for global funds management firm AMVESCAP, the company that owns Invesco.

Armour, 53, who was previously AMVESCAP head of sales and service worldwide institutional business, replaces the retiring John Rodgers. As well as heading up Invesco Australia, Armour has also served as ANZ Investments chief investment officer as well as a 20-year stint at National Mutual (now Axa) where he was head of investments from 1998-2000. “I am very excited by the opportunity we have to further expand the distribution of our excellent investment capabilities for the benefit our clients, our shareholders and our people,” Armour said in a statement. Armour will report to AMVESCAP president, Martin Flanagan. “Mark brings tremendous experience to his new role from Australia, where he led a major turnaround of our business in one of the world’s most competitive institutional markets,” Flanagan said in a statement released yesterday. AMVESCAP operates globally under several brands including AIM, AIM Trimark, Atlantic Trust, Invesco, Invesco Perpetual, PowerShares and WL Ross&Co.