Ross Whitehill, the chief operating officer of Thomas Murray, the specialist international custody consultant and bank ratings firm which assisted the Future Fund custody search last year, has resigned.
Whitehill, an expatriate Australian who has been in London for about 20 years, led the Thomas Murray push in Australasia over the past few years, running NZ Super’s big tender for a master custodian prior to the Future Fund work. He set up a Melbourne office, under Karen Bignall, who was sent from London last year to expand the Australian client base. Whitehill said he had decided to leave the firm and look at “;some interesting things – some inside the industry and some outside”;, after transitioning from his current client-sensitive jobs.
Future Fund chief investment officer Ben Samild said that FY24 has been a great year for alpha creation, thanks to strong returns in equities and, unusually, across multiple hedge fund strategies all at the same time. He reflected the past few years have been “a difficult time to be an asset owner and to generate positive returns for risk assets” but the Future Fund is tracking well of its long-term mandate.
Simon Hoyle and Darcy SongSeptember 4, 2024
