Morry Waked has attracted another senior former colleague to his Australian equities quant boutique, but this one is via the Sydney office of a global funds manager other than BlackRock.

Charles Genocchio is understood to be starting as Vinva Investment Management’s head of business development later this month.

It is understood Genocchio has finished up at HSBC Australia, where he has been representing the bank’s range of global funds management programs since June 2008.

Prior to that, Genocchio spent seven years in senior business development positions at Barclays Global Advisors, where he first worked with many of Vinva’s staff.

His connections run even deeper than that, having gone to university with Vinva chief and former BGI global chief investment officer, Morry Waked, and to school with senior portfolio manager Nick Burt.

Genocchio will work alongside another former BGI colleague, Katherine Allchin, who is Vinva’s head of client relationships and marketing.

Vinva, which is backed by former BGI senior executives Bruce Goddard, Richard Grinold and Justin Wood, is expected to be running live money soon.