Assirt analysts make the move
Assirt’s research team has been dealt another blow with the resignations of investment research analyst Jody Fitzgerald and hedge fund analyst Daniel Liptak.
Fitzgerald will be joiningSkandiain April in the same role as she held at Assirt, reporting to Skandia’s head of investment research, William Burkitt. The position expands Skandia’s research team in Australia to three.
However last week Assirt announced it is restructuring its research analysts along sector lines. Under the restructure, the analysts will work across a number of sectors, and may switch from the lead to secondary roles based on experience, with senior team members picking sectors where they have the most experience while junior members will not specialise but follow the lead of senior members.
The restructure comes ahead of a planned round of categorisation changes to the research house’s fund classification system, which Assirt says will allow valid peer group comparison between fund statistics while ensuring the group’s benchmarks reflect current and future industry trends and also reflect the growth of product trends such as absolute return funds.
The last year has been a tumultuous one for Assirt, following a restructure that saw the research house shifted under the umbrella of the newly established St George Investment Centre for Excellence (ICE), a move which was swiftly followed by the departure of Assirt head Caroline Saunders and later head of sales, Rebecca Jacques, who moved toChallengerandVertex Capitalrespectively.
Assirt head Simon Ibbetson declined to comment on the departures.
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