Aegon
Gábor Kepecs, member of Aegon’s management board and chief executive of Aegon Central and Eastern Europe, will retire in 2017. Kepecs was chief executive of Aegon Hungary from 1992 to 2009, when he became chief executive of Aegon Central & Eastern Europe.
Marco Keim, member of the management board, will become responsible for Aegon’s activities in continental Europe as of 1 January 2017. Keim was appointed chief executive of Aegon the Netherlands in 2008.
Maarten Edixhoven, who joined the board of Aegon the Netherlands in June 2014 and is currently responsible for the pension business, replaces Keim as chief executive of Aegon the Netherlands.
First Names Group
First Names Group has promoted Karen O’Hanlon to managing director of its Singapore business, effective immediately. In her new role, O’Hanlon will lead the team in Singapore, continuing to build on the foundations developed over her last two years as director with First Names Group.
She will work in close conjunction with the Hong Kong team to deliver First Names Group’s long-term expansion strategy in Asia.
Amundi
Dominique Carrel-Billiard is joining Amundi as deputy director for the firm’s general management. He is a member of the executive committee and will be responsible for coordinating the Amundi/Pioneer Investments merger.
Carrel-Billiard was previously chief executive of investment manager Financière de l’Echiquier. From 2006 to 2013, he was chief executive of Axa Investment Managers where he was responsible for consolidating group acquisitions and operational units.
VAM Funds
Following the appointment of David Macdonald as sales and marketing director, Niclas Soderberg and Ben Wiseman have joined as business development managers, servicing the Nordic and African regions respectively. Both will report in to Macdonald.
Soderberg has over 20 years of experience in the financial services sector in both the retail and wholesale markets, including 15 years with Friends Provident International/Friends Life.
Wiseman has worked in the offshore financial sector since 2003, most recently for Guernsey-based DFM Nova Group as head of business development.
Axa
Norbert Dentressangle is to step down from the board and his position as vice chairman – senior independent director with immediate effect to devote himself fully to the management of his family-owned investment holding company.
The board decided to co-opt André François-Poncet to the board with immediate effect until the shareholders’ meeting in 2018, which is the remainder of Dentressangle’s mandate. François-Poncet became a partner in CIAM investment company in September 2016. He previously worked for over 30 years in the finance sector for Morgan Stanley and BC Partners in Paris, London and New York.
Sanlam
Desmond Smith who has served as chairman of Sanlam since 2010 will retire after the annual general meeting in June 2017. Smith joined the Sanlam board in June 2009 and was appointed chairman the following year.
The Sanlam board unanimously nominated Patrice Motsepe to be the new chairman. However, Motsepe recommended that the board consider appointing former Sanlam chief executive Johan van Zyl as chairman. Van Zyl was thereafter appointed chairman-elect and will take over from Smith in June 2017 as non-independent non-executive chairman.
Motsepe will retain his position as deputy chairman; with Sipho Nkosi, who has served as an independent non-executive director on the board since 2006, appointed as the lead independent non-executive director.
Nucleus
Nucleus, the adviser-built wrap, has boosted its technical team by appointing Tracyann Kneen as a product technical manager. She has joined Nucleus from James Hay Partnership where she was most recently technical manager and focused on tax and trusts. She was also formerly a tax and trusts consultant at Aegon for eight years.
She will work alongside Rachel Vahey and Jon Gwinnett, also product technical managers at the wrap. In her new role, Kneen will specialise in providing technical support across Nucleus’ product wrappers including onshore and offshore bonds, Isas, tax and trusts.
Cigna GHB
Cigna Global Health Benefits Europe (Cigna GHB), the global expatriate segment of Cigna’s business, has appointed John Kaye as managing director. The appointment further strengthens Cigna GHB’s European management team, with Kaye reporting to David Maltby, president for Cigna GHB.
Based in the UK, he brings with him more than 20 years’ experience in sales and business development gained in senior positions at other leading companies, including Lombard and Axa. Since joining Cigna in 2002, Kaye has held a number of leadership roles within the client management team. Most recently, he was director of sales and client management for Cigna GHB Europe.
