Australian Ethical has announced the appointment of Natalie Tam as portfolio manager of systematic equities.
According to the ethical investment manager, Ms Tam, in her new capacity, will be responsible for Australian Ethical’s Diversified Shares and International Shares Funds.
Ms Tam has two decades of experience in Australian equity markets, including an 18-year stint at abrdn, where she held various roles including deputy head of Australian Equities. Here, she was responsible for the Sustainable Australian Equity Fund and the Australian Small Companies fund.
She joins the firm from Perpetual Limited as portfolio manager, where she managed around $5 billion in direct equities.
Commenting on Ms Tam’s appointment, Australian Ethical chief investment officer Ludovic Theau said: “Natalie’s appointment reflects Australian Ethical’s focus on strengthening our investment team across all asset classes.”
“We’re building out a systematic equities platform that we believe will become an increasingly integral part of Australian Ethical’s overall investment offering,” Mr Theau continued.
“Ms Tam’s depth of experience in equities and portfolio management made her the ideal appointment for this newly created position.”
The pair of funds that Ms Tam is poised to oversee are part of Australian Ethical’s portfolio of 11 managed funds. The latest addition to the suite is the Conservative Fund, launched last month.
In a quarterly FUM update in October, Australian Ethical funds under management (FUM) held steady at $9.20 billion over the September quarter, as negative investment performance was offset by positive net flows.
The ethical investment manager reported positive net flows of $114 million for the quarter, down from $172 million in the quarter prior.
Australian Ethical noted that its total customer base increased to more than 129,000 as at 30 September, up from more than 127,000 three months earlier.
While the firm said that its super net flows were “solid”, its managed fund net flows were impacted by “cautious investor sentiment” in response to broader market volatility.
“Despite the market challenges, this product category demonstrated resilience, with a modest net outflow of only $3 million for the quarter,” Australian Ethical explained.
