Some members are excited for retirement, while others approach it with a “real sense of shame and fear”. Funds are going to have to figure out how to cater to both groups or risk failing them all.
If there’s one lesson for investors from the past five years, it’s that chopping and changing their strategy – even in the face of massive market turmoil – doesn’t always pay.
T-Corp’s spill: Brentnall in from outside for CIO role
The NSW Government’s $75 billion fund T-Corp, which represents an amalgamation of the investment operations of three fiduciary investment pools, is finalising its senior management team after a spill of several positions. The key CIO role is to be filled by an outsider.
Stewart Brentnall will take up the role, replacing the acting CIO Mark O’Brien. O’Brien was the CIO of State Super (STC), the largest of three funds to merge their investments, and prior to that held several senior positions at AMP Capital, including CIO.
The other funds in the merger are the original T-Corp and NSW WorkCover, now known as iCare. Steve McKenna, the former CIO of iCare, is currently general manager of investment and client strategy at T-Corp. It is not known whether O’Brien or McKenna will be retained under the restructured T-Corp.
David Deverall, a former chief executive of Perpetual and, more recently, chief executive of the troubled Hunter Hall, became the head of T-Corp last year following the retirement of Steve Knight. Deverall announced that most senior positions would be spilled and a recruitment firm, Carmichael Fisher, was hired to advise on the selection process.
A new role of general manager of client relationships was filled last year, but not yet announced. Katharine Seymour, a former chief operating officer of Schroder Australia and a head of client service for one of T-Corp’s custodians, BNP Paribas, has taken that role.
Brentnall is currently the CIO of ANZ Wealth, which was put up for sale by the bank last year. Coincidentally, he also worked for Schroders, as head of Australian equities, in the 1990s. He also headed up investment solutions at BT Financial Group for several years until 2009.
Neither Deverall nor Brentnall were available for comment for this report. The office of the NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, did not respond to a request for information.
