Davis will join on 1 October, subject to regulatory approval. He replaces Andrew Fleming who left the group at the end of March when the group decided to separate the CEO and chief investment officer roles.
The group said that Davis will focus on strategic direction, governance and overseeing the overall development of Kames as a distinct business within Aegon Asset Management. He will lead the Kames executive team including Stephen Jones, who was named CIO earlier this year having helped build the Kames fixed income franchise.
Davis was CEO of fund supermarket Cofunds until May, having joined the group in June 2011. Prior to that, he had been chief executive of network Openwork, having held a number of roles within the Zurich Insurance Group. He has previously held senior management roles at Misys, Corillian and Reuters.
At Cofunds, David managed the group through the introduction of the Retail Distribution Review, but left shortly after Legal & General acquired the remaining 75% of Cofunds in March for £131 million. He was replaced by Chris Last, who was head of L&G’s strategic business opportunities within its savings business. Last announced his retirement this morning after just four months in the role.
According to IMA statistics, assets under management at Kames grew from £3.873bn to £5.016bn in the twelve months to the end of July, a rise of 29.5%.
