Australian Index Investments (Aii) has recruited Annmaree Varelas from the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) to be the firm’s new chief executive.
Aii is an Australian-owned exchange traded fund (ETF) specialist, and managing director Jim Socratous said the firm is looking to build its management team in response to increased investor demand for ETFs.
“Annmaree has deep knowledge of index funds, particularly from a regulatory and operational basis. It is no overstatement to say that her work at the ASX greatly assisted in bringing many ETFs to the market,” he said.
Varelas spent around five years as head of warrants and AQUA market at the ASX where she developed the AQUA market product listings service, and also worked with structured product issuers such as Macquarie, Citibank, UBS and RBS.
Prior to that Varelas was a senior product manager for the Sydney Futures Exchange, developing investment products such as derivatives for the futures market.
