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The ratings house is pinning its growth strategy on a revamped methodology that increases the emphasis on governance to 25 per cent – a timely move considering APRA’s proposed reforms.
Nevile to leave Mercer Sentinel for Middle Eastern SWF
(Pictured: Ravi Nevile)
Mercer Sentinel, the custody consulting, implementation and transitions arm of Mercer, is looking for a new head of its Asia Pacific business following the resignation of Ravi Nevile, who leaves the firm at the end of this week. Graeme Mather, business leader for Mercer Investment Consulting in Australia and New Zealand, is running the search.
Nevile has been at Mercer for four years, mostly in the Singapore office. He will join a sovereign wealth fund in the Middle East. His resignation is a blow for the Mercer division, as Nevile was only about a year into a rebuilding process for Sentinel. He transferred to Sydney from Singapore in July last year after Sentinel had lost its most senior consultants, including regional boss and global partner Lounarda David, in a short space of time over 2012-2013.
Nevile’s rebuilding process included hiring two senior staff – Jonathan Hall from Perpetual and Kristina Ross from Pantheon in London.
His main priorities after assuming the Sydney-based job were to:
> Maintain and strengthen key external client relationships by integrating Sentinel into the wider Investments business and leveraging our deep relationships in the ANZ market.
> Expand and diversify the client base to ensure long-term sustainable growth. This resulted in winning numerous client mandates across the superannuation, insurance and wealth management sectors.
> Reposition the business to focus on the changing regulatory environment in Australia and the key strengths of the global Mercer Sentinel brand. This entailed renewed focus on custody consulting where the firm won a number of benchmarking and tender assignments in 2014.
Nevile said: “Despite increased competition, we believe Mercer Sentinel is a truly global provider in this space since we have experts on the ground conducting due diligence in all key locations where the custody banks and administrators have substantial operations. Having conducted thousands of custody assignments globally over the last 15 years, we have also built extensive intellectual property to assist our clients’ every need.”
In confirming his next move over the weekend, Nevile said: “I have accepted a role with a sovereign wealth fund in the Middle East and I will be leaving Australia next month. Over the last three months the Mercer Investments leadership team and I have taken the necessary steps to ensure clients continue to receive a high quality service from Sentinel and are actively seeking to find a replacement for the leadership role. I am confident that the Sentinel business will thrive in the current environment as demand for our services continues to grow in Australia and New Zealand.”
