Australian Unity Investments (AUI) has appointed Ms Claire Harding to fill the newly-created role of head of research relationships, based in Melbourne.
Ms Harding joins AUI from Russell Investment Group where she was a senior consultant in its investment consulting team. She has also worked with Citibank in the UK, and PIMCO in the USA. Ms Harding is a Chartered Financial Analyst, and holds a Masters of Business Administration.
Mr Adam Coughlan, AUI's general manager - retail, said that Ms Harding will be responsible for building and maintaining relationships with retail research houses on behalf of AUI and its joint venture partners, Acorn Capital, Platypus Asset Management and Vianova Asset Management.
"Claire will also work closely with our distribution team to develop material that helps advisers with their own client relationships and strategies, as well as building AUI's institutional presence and acting as a resource for our joint venture partners in their institutional distribution activities.
"In particular, her experience at Russell in client-focussed research and portfolio construction will stand us in good stead during the more challenging economic times ahead.
"It is a sign of the growth and success achieved by AUI that we have attracted someone of Claire's calibre to the business," Mr Coughlan said.
Australian Unity Investments is the funds management arm of financial services, health and retirement living services provider Australian Unity. It has over $6 billion in funds under management. Its approach to product development is to use its established in-house expertise in property and mortgages while also forming joint ventures and strategic alliances with other organizations with specialist expertise.
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For more information please contact:
Adam Coughlan
Phone: 03 8682 4476
Email: acoughlan@australianunity.com.au
