Seales joins ANZ from National Australia Bank where she held positions in Australia and overseas in the group’s banking and financial services divisions.
She has held senior roles in sales, marketing and product management and was most recently responsible for the development and delivery of industry-leading licensee services for the MLC-aligned and NAB Financial Planning businesses, including MLC 360.
“In her new role, Raelene will establish and lead the advice delivery area of ANZ Wealth that will provide dealership services to our advice businesses,” ANZ Wealth advice and distribution general manager Paul Barrett said.
“Her experience and expertise will help create a centre of excellence delivering first-class advice services, as well as building a suite of next-generation dealership services.”
Seales will begin with ANZ Wealth in Sydney on 7 November and will report directly to Barrett.
ANZ Wealth comprises OnePath, Etrade, Investment Lending, Financial Planning and ANZ’s Private Bank. «
BC: Dealer group Risk and Investment Advisers Australia (RIAA) has hired Rob Mills as its Queensland state manager.
In his new job, Mills will help to build on the group’s business in Queensland through the recruitment of financial advisers and help existing advisers reach their business goals.
RIAA current Queensland state manager Dan Rodriguez will continue with RIAA part-time until the end of this year when he will retire.
“I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Dan’s contribution to the success of RIAA, his diligence and hard work,” RIAA chief executive Les Mace said.
Mills joins the firm with more than 15 years’ financial services industry experience.
Previously, he has held business development manager roles with Zurich, was a practice development manager with Charter Financial Planning and a sales consultant with Securitor.
For the past two years, he has been working as a financial planner in the wealth creators and accumulators market.
Zurich Financial Services Australia has appointed Kristen Lennis-Harvey to the role of national key account manager for retail risk.
Lennis-Harvey joins Zurich from CommInsure, where she held the position of national account manager.
In her new job, she will be responsible for developing strategies to maximise the relationships the financial services company has with existing accounts as well as continue to focus on new opportunities.
Commenting on Lennis-Harvey’s appointment, Zurich sales and marketing retail risk general manager Philip Kewin said: “We are delighted that Kristen has joined the Zurich team.
“Her depth of knowledge and strong relationships in the industry make her ideally suited to take advantage of the platform Zurich has already established in the marketplace.
“We’ve had fantastic growth in retail risk and delivering a valuable proposition to our key dealer group partners is essential to this continued success.
“We have a great team and culture and Kristen is a valuable addition to the Zurich family.”
Zurich Financial Services Australia provides general insurance, life risk, investment and superannuation products.
Dealer group Financial Services Partners has lost two practices with combined funds under management of nearly $400 million to IOOF Holdings-backed dealer group Wealth Managers.
The two practices are Kings Park Securities, led by principal Warren Killen, and Coastal Wealth Management, run by Allan Rose and Craig Woodman.
Both groups are based in Western Australia.
“What has attracted us to the IOOF advice licences is their strong compliance systems, the quality of the in-house research team, their understanding of direct equities and trading capability through Bridges Stockbroking together with better access to estate planning support,” Killen said.
IOOF advice division head Michael Carter said further additions were expected in coming months as financial planning businesses “realign” to dealer groups with strong support infrastructure and additional service offerings that better suited their clients’ needs in the post Future of Financial Advice environment.
Global investment management firm BlackRock has appointed Joel Kim as head of Asia-Pacific fixed income.
Kim joins BlackRock from ING Investment Management, where he led the Asian fixed income team and was responsible for the firm’s fixed income assets in Asia ex-Japan.
“We believe there is a tremendous opportunity to capitalise on BlackRock’s fixed income leadership position as we expand our business in Asia and we are delighted to have a leader of Joel’s calibre overseeing the execution of this strategy,” BlackRock vice chair Susan Wagner said.
In addition to leading the Asia-Pacific fixed income investment teams, Kim, who will be based in Singapore, will work closely with the global fixed income leadership team.
He will be championed with building out the local fixed income platform, while also contributing to the management of select BlackRock investment strategies.
“The recruitment of Joel is a major milestone in BlackRock’s commitment to building a world-class Asian fixed income franchise,” BlackRock fixed income portfolio management head and group senior managing director Peter Fisher said.
“As we enter the next phase of growth in the region, Joel’s proven record and experience as a successful fixed income investor in Asia will help position us for future expansion.” «
