BNY Mellon Investment Management and Standard Life Aberdeen have poached senior distribution heads from one another.
Standard Life Aberdeen announced on Tuesday it had snagged Fergus McCarthy (pictured), BNY Mellon IM’s head of UK and Ireland intermediary distribution of the last five years.
This was followed an hour later with a statement from BNY Mellon confirming it had signed SLA stalwart Michael Beveridge to replace the outgoing McCarthy as head of UK intermediary distribution by the end of July.
Beveridge has overseen Standard Life Investments’ intermediary sales business for the past 25 years. He became head of UK investment distribution after its parent company Standard Life merged with Aberdeen Asset Management in September 2017.
Prior to BNY Mellon IM, McCarthy held a slew of senior sales roles at Investec Asset Management, Martin Currie and Axa Investment Managers.
Distribution shake-up at SLA
While Beveridge will slide into McCarthy’s old role, McCarthy is not a direct replacement for Beveridge. Instead he joins SLA as a UK distribution director for regional accounts, a newly created role resulting from the firm restructuring its distribution team.
SLA confirmed earlier this year it would be combining the distribution teams of Standard Life and investment arm ASI, following the decision to sell off its life assurance business to Phoenix. At the time Beveridge was among those rumoured to be on the chopping block, along with head of regional sales Michael Dinwoodie and head of UK discretionary sales Marcus Gibbon.
In his new role McCarthy will oversee both ASI sales and Standard Life’s platform sales as part of the firm’s new regional accounts team. He will report to Noel Butwell, who was appointed last year to managing director of UK distribution.
Butwell said McCarthy’s appointment “will drive us forward” in meeting “ambitious growth plans for our UK business”.
Beveridge key to BNY Mellon IM’s strategy
Beveridge meanwhile will “drive BNY Mellon IM’s strategy and ambitions across discretionary, wealth management, retirement, strategic partnerships and advisory segments,” according to the fund group.
Reporting to head of European distribution Hilary Lopez, he will focus on offering clients and investors relevant solutions from the investment firms falling under the BNY Mellon IM umbrella including Insight Investment, Newton Investment Management, Mellon Investments Corporation, Walter Scott & Partners and Alcentra.
Commenting on his appointment Beveridge said: “BNY Mellon IM is a reputable global investment house with excellent product capabilities, I am very much looking forward to joining the company to support it in its next phase of growth in the UK market.”
Earlier this month the investment firm announced it would be re-labelling £27.3bn worth of retail funds from its subsidiaries to match the parent company brand.
BNY Mellon IM currently has $1.8trn (£1.4trn) in assets under management.
