Gam Investments has nabbed Stephanie Maier from HSBC Global Asset Management to become its global head of sustainable and impact investment as it looks to drive asset growth through green strategies.
Maier (pictured), who has been director of responsible investment for HSBC Gam for the last three and a half years, will be tasked with leading Gam’s sustainable investment and ESG strategy and strengthening its proposition for clients.
She will start in the newly created role on 4 January 2021 and form part of Gam’s senior leadership team.
Gam confirmed in its last set of results ESG would form a key part of its growth plan as its existing strategies targeting traditional asset classes like equities and fixed income faced another quarter of redemptions. Its funds racked up CHF 2.4bn (£2.0bn) of redemptions in Q3, following on from a dismal H1 where they lost CHF 9bn (£7.5bn).
Group assets under management are currently at CHF120.4bn, down 11% from CHF 135.7bn a year ago.
Gam CEO Peter Sanderson said Maier would bring a “wealth of experience in the ESG space”, referring to her as “one of the industry’s brightest minds in this field”.
“Covid-19 has served to further reinforce the importance of ESG considerations both to GAM and to our clients and Stephanie’s appointment represents our continued commitment to providing the investment leadership, innovation and sustainable thinking required to meet our clients’ needs,” Sanderson said.
Prior to HSBC Gam Maier spent seven years at Aviva Investors, serving as head of responsible investment strategy and research, and before that was head of research for EIRIS, an ESG consultant. She holds a BA in Biological Sciences from Oxford University and an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London.
Commenting on her appointment Maier said: “Gam has a compelling range of actively managed funds spanning asset classes. We are now at an inflection point for sustainable investing and I am looking forward to joining the firm, working with some of the industry’s best investment talent, to harness GAM’s capabilities to deliver differentiated and impactful ESG solutions for clients.”
Earlier this week Gam poached another heavy hitter from Blackrock, Matt Williams, to head up its team of equity investment specialists.
