SSgA Names Lori Heinel Chief Portfolio Strategist

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has appointed asset management industry veteran Lori Heinel as its first-ever chief portfolio strategist, the firm announced today.

She will serve as the head liaison between the group’s investment strategies and clients, prospective clients, and consultants. According to SSgA, the new role puts her in charge of a roughly 20-person team.

Heinel joins SSgA from OppenheimerFunds, where for nearly four and a half years she has led its investment products division. Her extensive career in asset management also included five years as head of Citi Private Bank’s investment solutions business and eight years in a similar role at SEI.

“Lori brings a strong blend of client and investment knowledge to the position and her varied experience has given her a keen understanding of the intricacies and distinct needs of a wide range of clients,” said SSgA CIO Rick Lacaille. He complimented Heinel on her “breadth of knowledge,” and noted it would help SSgA in its aims as an outcome-oriented provider.

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On SSgA, Heinel remarked it “has built a well-earned reputation for investment prowess and exceptional client service” and said she is “thrilled to be at the nexus of both.”

Heinel began her 30-plus year career in finance as an investment banking analyst and trader for Credit Suisse First Boston.

She holds an undergraduate degree from Princeton and an MBA in finance from Carnegie Mellon University.

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The top European court has ruled that the BT Pension Scheme’s (BTPS) exemption from paying an industry levy is tantamount to illegal state aid.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) today ruled that the so-called “crown guarantee” given by the UK government to the BTPS should not mean the pension does not pay levies to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), the UK’s lifeboat fund for defined benefit funds. The ECJ said the exemption was in breach of state aid rules, upholding a 2009 decision by the European Commission.

According to Reuters, ECJ judges said: “The court hereby dismisses the appeal [and] orders British Telecommunications plc and BT Pension Scheme Trustees Ltd to pay the costs.”

The pension has been setting aside money towards the levy since 2010, according to Reuters.

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A spokesperson for the BT Pension Scheme told CIO: “We welcome the clarity that the judgement provides and have proceeded to date on the basis that the levy would remain payable.”

In July, the UK’s Court of Appeal ruled that the crown guarantee provides a government backstop to BT’s funding obligations relating to all members of the pension, not just those who worked for the company when it was in public ownership.

The judgement stated that BT was “a solvent and prosperous company and the prospect of its ever going into insolvent liquidation is remote”, the Financial Times reported.

BT was sold off by the UK government in 1984. The government said at the time it would stand behind its obligations to the fund in the event of BT going bust. However, telecommunication company rivals have complained about the arrangement, which triggered the involvement of the European Commission.

The BT Pension Scheme has liabilities of more than £40 billion, dwarfing its sponsor’s market cap of £30.1 billion. However, the pension has taken steps this year to offload longevity risk, and in 2012 BT announced that it had dramatically reduced the fund’s deficit with cash injections.

A 2010 list of UK pensions with crown guarantees included sections of the Railways Pension Scheme, the BAE Systems Pension Scheme, and the Coal Pension Fund.

Note: An earlier version of this story reported that the crown guarantee had been deemed illegal by the ECJ ruling. The story has been corrected.