Perkins Investment Nabs Veteran Consultant Ron Zia
Perkins Investment Management has hired Ron Zia, an individual with nearly 20 years under his belt as an institutional investment consultant, to be a new client portfolio manager at the Janus Capital Group subsidiary.
Zia joins the Chicago-based value equity money manager from Bradford & Marzec, where he was responsible for consultant relations and institutional marketing at the Los Angeles headquartered firm.
In his new post, Zia, a 14-year Callan Associates veteran, will provide institutional investment consultants "with guidance on Perkins' value investment capabilities." He will also serve as an "internal resource for [the firm's] institutional sales, portfolio management and client service professionals," the statement explained.
"We're thrilled to have such a seasoned investment professional joining Perkins to help us enhance our focus on the consultant marketplace," said Chief Executive Officer Peter Thompson. "As a former consultant himself, Ron understands firsthand the challenges of plan sponsors and will be a great addition to our client service team."
Prior to his time at Callan, Zia also held additional positions at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and ING Investment Management.
Currently, the 30-year old investment management firm uses a bottom-up approach to supplement its diversified portfolio model that it provides to its clients. As of June 30, Perkins had $16.1 billion in assets. Alternately, its parent company, which presently holds a 78% stake in Perkins, managed nearly $147.2 billion for shareholders, clients and institutions worldwide.
Scout Hires Janus Veteran Andrew Iseman as CEO
Scout Investment Advisors Inc., a division of UMB, announced Wednesday that it hired Andrew Iseman as its chief executive officer.
The Kansas City, Mo., based unit of UMB Financial Corp. hired Iseman from RK Capital Management in Denver, where he was its chief operating officer.
Iseman has more than 23 years of experience in the financial services industry. Before working at RK Capital, he was the chief operating officer for Janus Capital Group in Denver.
Peter deSilva, UMB Financial's chief operating officer, said Scout will rely on Iseman to "help us accelerate the growth of Scout over the coming years." Iseman will report directly to deSilva.
UMB has been working to expand its wealth management capabilities over the past several years. In June, it signed a definitive agreement to buy Prairie Capital Management LLC, an independent asset management and wealth management firm in based in Kansas City.
Scout is a national investment management firm that offers investment management services for both managed accounts and mutual funds. Scout Investment Advisors' investment capabilities include domestic large cap, mid cap, small cap and fixed income. Scout also offers international, international small/mid-cap and global equity portfolios.
Iseman will work with Scout's existing management team, which includes William Greiner, president and chief investment officer of Scout Investment Advisors, and Gary DiCenzo, president and chief executive officer of Scout Distributors, LLC.
Iseman will take over as CEO on Aug. 30 and will be relocating to Kansas City.
Tapner Tapped as Chief Of RBS Wealth Division
Royal Bank of Scotland announced on Tuesday that it hired Rory Tapner as CEO of RBS Group's Wealth Division.
Tapner was previously Chairman and CEO of UBS Group's Asia Pacific businesses. Prior to that, he was global head of equity capital markets at UBS and then global head of investment banking. In Asia Pacific, he was responsible for 10,000 employees operating across 13 different countries, the firm said.
Tapner is replacing John Baines, who resigned in February.
"Rory Tapner is a highly experienced addition to the RBS senior management team and I am delighted we have been able to secure such a high calibre leader for our global wealth business," said Brian Hartzer, Chief Executive, U.K. retail, wealth and Ulster Bank, RBS Group.
"His experience in building and leading global financial services businesses will be invaluable in his new role," Hartzer said.
The RBS Wealth Division provides private banking and investment services in the UK through Coutts & Co. and Adam & Co., and offshore banking services through RBS International, NatWest Offshore and Isle of Man Bank. Outside of the U.K. it offers private banking through the RBS Coutts brand in over 80 countries with Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai as major hubs.
Meanwhile, RBS announced Friday that the Financial Services Authority of Britain had launched a probe into sales of a savings product by Coutts, the firm's private banking arm.
Spotlight on M&I Institutional Trust Services
M&I Institutional Trust Services is a secret success story for the Milwaukee-based bank that is tired of being a secret. According to Gary Jackson, the unit's head of sales: "We aren't part of the who's who, we are still part of the 'Who?'"
Jackson was hired in February 2009 to increase sales of M&I's institutional trust services nationally. He said in an interview Thursday that the company wants to increase distribution beyond its banking clients.
"We are a great secret in the industry," he said. "We have extraordinary client satisfaction ratings, and right now advisers and plan sponsors want a higher service paradigm. We are getting our name out there in the industry, but we aren't a Fidelity or a Vanguard. We need to get out there into the local markets." Jackson said the company plans to increase sales through advisers so it can increase trust assets from the current $121.4 billion.
