Trevor Greetham made a headline-grabbing move to Royal London Asset Management from Fidelity in the spring of this year, and rapidly set about putting his stamp on the asset allocation process at his new professional home.
Greetham began his career in finance at insurance group Aviva, a background that continues to shape his approach to this day.
“I started as an actuary at Provident Mutual, which became part of Aviva,” he says. “But I started to realise that I was most interested in the investment side of the balance sheet, so I made a move over and have stayed in investment since then.”
Greetham moved to Merrill Lynch in 1995 as the bank grew its presence in the UK, where he held various roles over 10 years, including a spell as the macro specialist salesman on the trading floor for what he describes as ‘an eventful period’ between 2001 and 2003.
The move to run Fidelity’s multiasset offering took place in 2006 and he remained there until his recent switch. Joining RLAM has seen a leap in the amount of assets he oversees.
Making the grade
The jump in assets was not the main driver of Greetham’s change in employer, however.
“I wanted to have more of an impact than I could by being purely a fund manager. I wanted more involvement in product design, and in the institutional and retail business sides.
“In the early stages at Fidelity I was exploring ideas and setting up new products but it got to the stage where I was just managing the funds and not really getting involved in strategy and development.
“Royal London presented me with a fantastic opportunity: first, it connects back to my actuarial background after 20 years of pretending I’m not one, but also it’s an impressive company to join, with a major presence in the pensions market and £86bn in assets under management.
“I’m seeking to leverage off that success and hopefully add to it,” he says. The first months in the job have been hectic and challenging, but enjoyable.
“The first few weeks were a rapid learning curve; you are the guy who doesn’t even know where the coffee machine is. But I have been impressed by the people I have met, both on the investment side and in development.
