People on the move - Nordic Region Pensions & Investments News

People on the move

Published: 16 December, 2006

Page 9

Nordea has appointed Christian Clausen as its new president and group CEO. Mr Clausen will succeed Lars G. Nordström who will step down in April 2007. Mr Clausen is currently Nordea’s head of asset management and life. Since 2001, he has also been a member of the firm’s executive management.

Länsförsäkringar, the Swedish insurance group, has appointed Gustav Karner as its new chief investment officer. Mr Karner also becomes CIO of Länsförsäkringar’s asset management operation. He has been working as a member of Länsförsäkringar’s investment team for the past five years, most recently as the head of asset allocation. Before that he worked at Alecta and Handelsbanken. Mr Karner succeeds Hans Sterte, who is joining Skandia Life after four years as the CIO of Länsförsäkringar.

The €21.2bn Finnish Local Government Pensions (Keva) has appointed Mikko Moilanen as portfolio manager in its alternative investments team. Mr Moilanen joins Keva from Tresor Investment Management, where he was portfolio manager for the past three years. The appointment forms a part of Keva’s plans to double its strategic alternatives exposure from 4.5 per cent to approximately 9 per cent of all holdings within the next three years.

GES Investment Services, the Stockholm-based socially responsible investment (SRI) advisory group, has appointed John Howchin to a newly established position of vice president for international operations. Mr Howchin will focus on developing GES’s international business activities and expansion outside the Nordic region, including client services, marketing, partnerships and co-ordination of GES’s research centre in Poland. Meanwhile, GES’s president Magnus Furugård takes on Mr Howchin’s former role as research director in Sweden.

Finland’s Tapiola Asset Management and Tapiola Fund Management have appointed Tom Liljeström, currently the director of Tapiola Group, as the managing director of both companies. In his new role, Mr Liljeström will be responsible for the merger of the two companies into Tapiola Asset Management. Asko Sasi, the managing director of Tapiola Fund Management and Jyrki Mäkelä, the managing director of Tapiola Asset Management, will become directors in the new company.

Henderson Global Investors has added Erik van de Weele to its Amsterdam based Benelux and Scandinavian team. Mr van de Weele joins Henderson from ABN Amro Asset Management where he was a senior account manager of third-party fund sales.

Evli Bank has appointed Niklas Johansson as its new managing director for its Swedish operation. Mr Johansson will join Evli from Skandia Liv, where he has worked since 2002, most recently with responsibility for external asset management. Mikael Thunved, the current managing director of Evli Sweden, will in future devote all his time to his role as Evli’s head of corporate finance.