Axa Investment Managers has promoted Chris Iggo to chief investment officer in its core investments leadership team as part of a shake-up involving several other promotions.
The core investments team brings together fixed income, Framlington equities and multi-asset platforms. All changes to the team are effective immediately.
Iggo (pictured) had been CIO for the fixed income investment platform since 2008 and additionally head of active fixed income Europe and Asia since 2014. He joined Axa IM as a senior strategist in 2005.
Previously, he was head of strategy at Cazenove and also spent four years at Barclays Capital, first as chief US economist in New York and then as chief European economist.
Iggo’s replacement in fixed income
Marion Le Morhedec has been appointed as head of active fixed income Europe and Asia to take over from Iggo.
Le Morhedec was previously head of product specialists and solutions for the core investments platform since February 2019 and prior to that, head of business development and client relationships for fixed income from 2016 to 2019.
She had also been a senior portfolio manager within the fixed income team, where she was responsible for managing inflation portfolios between 2006 and 2016. She initially joined Axa IM in 2003 as product manager.
Prior to joining Axa IM, Le Morhedec worked for BNP Paribas in London and Madrid as derivatives structurer for fixed income and equity market products.
In her new role, she will be responsible for building a strategy to expand Axa IM’s footprint in this key business area.
Core investments leadership shake-up
The investment manager also appointed Serge Pizem as head of multi-asset and Laurent Clavel as head of the “quant lab”.
Pizem, who was global head of the multi-asset investments team since 2013, will lead all the investment teams of multi-asset. He will still manage the Optimal Income range.
He had previously joined the multi-asset team in 2011 to set up the total return expertise. Pizem began at Axa IM in 2002 as head of European equities in Paris for Framlington Equities, before being appointed head of Framlington equities Paris team.
Clavel, who was previously head of research at Axa IM, joined in 2015 as international economist, before becoming head of macroeconomic research.
He will manage the quant lab that has been set up to foster innovation, focusing on quantitative research, portfolio engineering, product engineering and structuring.
In a press release, Axa IM said the appointments have been made to drive investment process enhancements and deliver on growth ambitions. They aim to accelerate collaboration and innovation between the platforms.
Axa IM global head of core investments Hans Stoter said: “I am convinced that this new leadership team will result in increased collaboration, lead to better performance and engender a true transformation in the way we manage portfolios. We have tremendous strengths to build on, and we will leverage them to deliver the optimal outcome for our diverse client base.”
