State Street Global Advisors made the unusual move of hiring from outside the firm, appointing former Old Mutual chief executive Scott Powers as its new president and chief executive.

Brad Pragnell resigned after seven years as head of policy and best practice at ASFA, to take up a position as head of industry policy with the Australian Payments Clearing Association.

Prominent academic-turned-manager, and former head of strategy at GMO, Jack Gray joined Brookvine, an alternatives placement agency, in the role of special advisor.

Meanwhile, Brookvine joined forces with ipac Asset Management to provide an integrated portfolio implementation, administration and responsible entity service for Brookvine’s third party alternative asset managers.

Investec launched a Global Aircraft Fund, raising $73 million in seed capital from industry funds AUSCOAL Superannuation, Seafarers Retirement Fund and the Stevedoring Employees Retirement Fund.

Industry fund REST Superannuation appointed hedge fund-of-funds manager Fauchier Partners to manage $100 million of new cash flows.

Vanguard Investments Australia appointed Scott Lawrence as of head of investment solutions Asia Pacific.

Invesco Australia hired senior JANA consultant, Arthur Roumeliotis, as head of quantitative portfolio management, to lead the rebuilding of its Australian equities large-cap fund.

Maple-Brown Abbott committed to increasing the focus on long-term sustainability issues, signing the UNPRI.

Morningstar’s Market Share Report for December 2007 found BT Financial Group’s platforms account for one in every three investment dollars coming into the market, the bulk of those flows going to pension products.

Colonial First State appointed former head of business development (dealer groups) at AMP Corporate Superannuation, John Anderson, as head of corporate superannuation.

Northern Trust appointed Paul Cutts as head of its Australian office, based in Melbourne.

NAB announced the creation of a new Private and Institutional Wealth division within the Australian bank, combining a number of existing NAB businesses including NAB Private Bank, National Custodian Services, JANA, National Australia Trustees, National Online Trading, NAB Financial Planning and Specialised Investments.

Boutique fund manager, Northward Capital, launched its first retail fund; Northward Capital Australian Equities Trust.

Australian Eligible Rollover Fund appointed MLC Implemented Consulting as the multi-manager of its $800 million assets. Superannuation e-commerce provider Investmentlink signed Equity Trustees Superannuation to SuperChoice, its non-proprietary clearing service.

Colonial First State Global Asset Management bolstered its business development Australia and New Zealand team, appointing Matt Russell as head of wholesale business development and Liz Krajewski as manager, wholesale business development, both reporting to recently promoted head of institutional business development, Eddy Schipper.

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