Link Fund Solutions is stepping up its risk monitoring as it recruits for a full-time chief investment officer to replace the part-timer who has been in place during the Woodford Equity Income fund suspension and wind down.
An online job advert describes the CIO position as a “key leadership role” that would be responsible for “investment management (if carried out in-house), investment risk and performance analytics functions”.
“The role holder is also responsible for the oversight of the liquidity management within all the funds operated by the firm and the monitoring of such liquidity,” the advert says.
Liquidity issues were at the heart of the Woodford Equity Income fund suspension.
The existing CIO Paul Doran, who has been at Link Fund Solutions since 2013, works on a part-time basis and is due to retire, according to The Times.
The team that Doran heads up is focused investment risk monitoring while another team in Link Fund Solutions is responsible for overseeing fund managers.
Beefing up oversight after Woodford bruising
The Woodford fund wind-up is among the limited investment management activities Link Fund Solutions conducts in-house with most of its funds managed through third-party managers.
It has already recruited two additional investment professionals to help in this area and the CIO will be additional to that.
Tilney managing director Jason Hollands reckons by the time the new recruit joins later in the year, the Woodford Equity Income fund wind down will have largely played out.
“The decision to find a full-time person in the role is probably more of a signal about beefing up oversight in the future. The Woodford saga has been a bruising one for many parties involved, including Link,” Hollands said.
Part-timer CIO position raises eyebrows
The fact the existing position is part-time surprised Willis Owen head of personal investing Adrian Lowcock.
“I would expect the role or a similar role to have been full time given there is a significant emphasis on risk as well as the investment management services they provide,” Lowcock said.
7IM senior investment manager Peter Sleep was also surprised the role had been part-time “especially given how many funds Link supervise”.
A source connected to Link Fund Solutions said Doran’s role had always been “proportionate” to the business model.
Both Lowcock and Hollands highlighted that a CIO function at an outsourced authorised corporate director, like Link Fund Solutions, is different from the same role at an asset or wealth manager.
“The role at Link is likely to have a greater emphasis on risk, not that other CIOs don’t focus on this, but because of the nature of a large part of Link’s business means they need to understand the risks of third-party funds,” said Lowcock.
Hollands said the role might be more comparable to someone leading a risk management function at an asset manager.
A CIO at a typical wealth or asset manager would also be responsible for leading an overall investment process, responsibility for asset allocation and managing teams of investment professionals, he said.
