Franklin Templeton has bolstered its Australian investment team with three new hires.
It named Jim McKay as its advisory services director, responsible for building and developing the retail business strategy with financial advisers.
McKay was previously ING Investment Management head of distribution. Before that, he was managing director of Challenger’s private wealth management firm, Garrisons Group, and head of retail business and group product management at Goldman Sachs JB Were.
His role will involve positioning Franklin Templeton’s products and building a dedicated retail team to drive sales and consolidate a sustainable business.
Juliana Howard joined Franklin Templeton as client services manager in Sydney, with responsibility for its institutional clients across all asset classes.
Howard began her career as a fixed-income portfolio manager at UBS Asset Management, before moving to Russell Investments where she performed manager research on fixed income and alternative investment managers.
More recently she oversaw institutional client services and consultant relations at Invesco Asset Management.
Mathew Sund has joined the fund manager as director of fund administration in the company’s Melbourne office, focusing on accounting and unit pricing for Franklin Templeton products.
Sund has more than 15 years of experience in the industry. He spent the past eight years at Vanguard Investments Australia where he managed the fund accounting and unit pricing teams.
“Franklin Templeton has continued to build out its Australian presence and the acquisition of Balanced Equity Management earlier this year has reinforced our commitment to the Australian market,” Franklin Templeton Investments Australia managing director Maria Wilton said.
“We’re pleased to add these three experienced professionals to our team, which will further enhance our commitment to client service while helping to grow our asset base in Australia and New Zealand.”
Meanwhile, Balanced Equity Management hired two analysts. Justin Levi joined the firm as an equities analyst covering media, gaming and healthcare. Previously, he was an investment analyst with Wingate Group in Melbourne.
Gareth D’Cunha joined as an equities analyst covering smaller financial stocks. He joined from Credit Suisse, where he was an investment banking analyst.
Balanced Equity Management, which has about $10 billion under management, was acquired in July by Franklin Templeton.
