Assirtand Asgard will form a closer relationship in the future following the appointment of Caroline Saunders to overseeAssirt’sfunds research business in addition to her responsibilities with Sealcorp.
Previously the director of investments and insurance at Sealcorp, the parent group of both Assirt and Asgard, Saunders effectively replaces the former Assirt chief executive Krystyna Weston, who left the company in April to join AMP Henderson.
According to Sealcorp chief executive officer Ian Knox, the dual nature of Saunders’ appointment does not compromise the independence of Assirt’s research or rating system in any way.
Knox says one of Saunders’ key objectives will be to feed the knowledge about fund managers gained through her responsibilities at Assirt into the development of model investment portfolio’s to be offered through Asgard, Sealcorp’s flagship master trust.
Unlike other research houses in the industry that have developed asset management businesses, Knox says Assirt will have no such in-house business.
Instead, the research group would concentrate on producing research that could then be fed through Saunders to Asgard, and then turned into asset management products.
