Australian Ethical appoints COO

The ethical investment manager and super fund, Australian Ethical, has announced the appointment of Anthony Lane as chief operating officer (COO).

Lane joins with over 25 years of experience across legal, investment, transformation, and operational efficiency within superannuation, investment management, financial advice, and banking services organisations.

Most recently, Lane has been consulting to Australian Retirement Trust. His prior experience includes serving as COO at MLC Wealth, global COO at Mercer Investments, and group executive, risk & governance at Colonial First State.

Having recently exceeded the milestone of $14 billion in funds under management (FUM), Australian Ethical managing director John McMurdo said he is “delighted” to welcome Lane at an exciting time for the business.

“We have made significant progress in the development of a modern operating platform designed to help us scale with efficiency and resilience. Anthony’s skills and expertise will ensure we effectively leverage and grow the capability we now have,” McMurdo said.

In his new capacity, Lane will report directly to McMurdo and become a key member of the executive leadership team. The role involves managing Australian Ethical’s daily operations and leading strategic initiatives to enhance growth, resilience, and efficiency.

Commenting on his appointment, Lane said he is looking forward to supporting the continued growth of the organisation and will start on 10 November. 

“Over the past few years, Australian Ethical has taken steps to build strong superannuation and investment operating foundations and I look forward to helping the business capitalise on its investment for its members and investors and continue to enhance its operating efficiency,” he said.

In its most recent quarterly results, the fund manager said FUM rose from $13.9 billion at the end of June to $14.3 billion as of 30 September. This was divided between $4.5 billion in investments and $9.9 billion in superannuation, up from $4.4 billion and $9.5 billion at the end of June.

Retail and wholesale flows were $0.13 billion, which is down from $0.20 million in the previous quarter, but it reported $0.01 million inflows in the investment space, which is a positive after experiencing the same volume in investment outflows in the previous quarter. 

McMurdo said: “It’s pleasing to build on the strong results of the previous financial year with another quarter of growth. While the first quarter of the financial year tends to be lower for flows, we continue to acquire new superannuation members and have seen an uptick in rollovers in this quarter.”