St. James’s Place appointed Justin Onuekwusi as its new chief investment officer.
Onuekwusi, who was previously head of retail investments EMEA at L&G Investment Management, started in finance in 2003 at Aon Consulting and has spent his 20-year career between Aviva Investors, Merrill Lynch, and, for the past 10 years, at LGIM. Onuekwusi announced he was leaving LGIM for St. James’s Place on 13 April.
Onuekwusi has also been recognised by Portfolio Adviser for his Contribution to Inclusivity in 2020, and received the prestigious Freedom of the City of London award for his promotion of inclusivity during the same year.
“Everything I have done in my career has been based on the desire to be impactful,” Onuekwusi said.
“I am looking forward and delighted to have the opportunity to continue to do this at SJP and, importantly, together with the rest of the investment capability, strive to be innovative in the pursuit of delivering robust client outcomes.”
Onuekwusi will work alongside head of economic research Hetal Mehta, who has worked at St. James’s Place since August but holds 17 years of industry experience, and Joe Wiggins, who re-joined the firm in September after a year at Fundhouse. According to the company’s half-year report ending 30 June, it currently has £157.5bn of clients’ assets under management, an increase of 6% since the beginning of the year.
Tom Beal, director of investments at St. James’s Place, said he hopes Onuekwusi will expand the expertise of the investment division.
“I’m thrilled to have Justin on board, as his experience in multi-asset solutions will be invaluable to the team and in driving positive investment outcomes for our clients,” he added.
