The ASIC report into death benefit claims revealing the devastating impact of poor industry practices on grieving Australians has again highlighted the pressing need for change. While some funds have taken up the cudgels, others are still playing hardball on improving their service offering.
A Retirement Income Covenant obligation notwithstanding, there is still a paucity of these complex products on offer. The Advice Through Superannuation draft legislation might offer a way forward.
BNY Mellon goes for experience with new Aussie head
After a six-month search, BNY Mellon Investment Management has filled the gap at the top in Australia, recruiting experienced funds management CEO and marketer Paul Bolinowski as its new country head.
He will be responsible for providing the overall strategic direction for and expansion of the Australian investment management business. BNY Mellon has a group has eight boutique firms under its umbrella, and assets totalling more than US$2 trillion. The largest of these subsidiaries is Insight Investment, which has about A$1.3 trillion under management globally.
In Australia, Insight is run by Bruce Murphy, who reports to Angus Woolhouse, global head of distribution, in London. It has recently expanded with the appointment of Ben Ereria as investment specialist in Sydney. Insight manages about A$23 billion on behalf of Australian investors.
Bolinowsky was most recently chief executive of boutique asset manager Glennon Capital. Prior to that, he held the positions of country manager, Pioneer Investments/Amundi Australia. Before that he was managing director and head of institutional sales at UBS Asset Management Australia and before that head of distribution at Alliance Bernstein, Australia.
He is one of the Rothschild Australia Asset Management alumni from that firm’s heyday in the 1990s before it was acquired by Westpac. For a brief period, Rothschild was called ‘Sagitta’ before Westpac also bought BT Funds Management and merged the two. Sagitta is Latin for an arrow. For the uninitiated, Rothschild’s range of managed funds were known as ‘Five Arrows’.
The Australian country head position was vacated in April by Phil Filippelas, who joined Westpac in July as director of global investment services for the bank’s private wealth division. He had worked at BNY Mellon since 2015 and introduced a retail distribution capability through a joint venture with Pinnacle Investment Management in 2018.
Deborah Bannon, head of institutional distribution, Asia Pacific ex-Japan, to whom Bolinowsky reports, said last week (December 7): “Australia is a strategically important market for us in the Asia Pacific region where it’s essential to have a local presence to support local clients. Paul’s role will be to expand our business amongst the institutional market working closely with clients and prospects, while also looking at strategic opportunities in other channels.”
– Greg Bright
