Royal London has hired fund selector Jonathan ‘JB’ Beckett for its investment advisory committee which independently advises the firm’s fund range.
Beckett, who has nearly 20 years’ experience as a fund picker, is a well-known industry campaigner and author on fund governance issues.
His previous role was at Lloyds Banking Group and Scottish Widows, where he oversaw £189bn of assets. His departure in October after 22 years coincided with the announcement that Lloyds was partnering with Schroders on a financial planning firm.
Prior to this, he worked at the wealth manager JRG Financial, Franklin Templeton, Standard Life and Barclays Wealth.
Beckett is on a number of advisory boards, including the Transparency Task Force and Stirling University Investment Managed Fund. He is also an independent non-executive director for asset managers.
Independent committee
The Royal London investment advisory committee comprises a team of five pensions and investment experts which meet on a regular basis to review the firm’s risk-graded Governed Portfolios and fund range.
It has an independent chairman and has representatives from the Royal London Group and Royal London Asset Management (RLAM), as well as independent members, but operates independently of RLAM which has day-to-day running of the underlying funds within the portfolios.
Beckett will be the third independent member of the committee and replaces Colin Taylor who leaves in June after eight years’ service.
Lorna Blyth, head of investment solutions at Royal London Intermediary, said: “It is great news to be able to welcome someone of JB’s experience to the committee – his experience both as a fund selector and his work on responsible investing will make a valuable contribution. His appointment allows us to maintain a strong independent presence on the committee and we very much look forward to working with him.”
