Vanguard expands equities team in Australia
Vanguard’s Quantitative Equity Group has announced an expansion of its quantitative equities team in Australia with an appointment of Michael Roach, a 19-year Vanguard veteran, who will take of a new role of head of Quantitative Equity Group, Australia.
Roach has relocated to Melbourne from Vanguard’s US headquarters in Pennsylvania, where he worked across Vanguard’s suite of quantitative active strategies in the US and was a portfolio manager with the Quantitative Equity Group for eight years.
Following this, Janel Jackson who previously worked in investments search and was responsible for oversight for traditional and alternative active mandates, would join the local quantitative management team as assistant portfolio manager.
Also, chief investment officer Tim Buckley has been appointed to replace current chief executive officer, Bill McNabb, effective January 2018.
The company said expansion of its team in Australia was a part of the growth of its international operations and a move to strengthen its active management capabilities, introduced to the Australian market earlier this year, by focusing on quantitative products managed by QEG experts based in the Australian business.
Both Roach and Jackson, who would service Vanguard’s suite of active funds in Australia, would be supported by QEG’s US-based quantitative research team and a global trading team.
“Building our team in Melbourne highlights the critical role that people play in the success of our quantitative active strategies,” roach said.
“Leveraging technology is hugely important to our quantitative systems at Vanguard, but people remain an indispensable part of our process, as is the case with our index funds.”
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