Art by Chris BuzelliIan McKinlay, investment director at the Aviva Staff Pension,
is to leave the insurer and run the assets of the Lloyds and HBOS pension funds,
CIO has learned.
McKinlay, who joined the insurer’s pension fund in August 2012, will join the Lloyds Banking Group later this year to run assets worth £32 billion.
In March, the UK high street bank appointed Momentum Investment Solutions & Consulting as an outsourced-CIO (OCIO), with Richard Cooper taking on the lead role. This followed a proposed restructure of the pension, which saw the departure of HBOS pension investment director Larissa Benbow and Lloyds pension CIO Simon Lee.
At the time of Momentum’s appointment, the bank’s pension teams were told they would focus more intently on the day-to-day asset and portfolio management, leaving the pension trustee boards to concentrate on more strategic issues. At the time, there was no plan to merge the two funds’ assets, but a source close to the funds said the move was not inconceivable.
CIO understands McKinlay, who led the UK’s lifeboat for bankrupt company defined benefit funds—the Pension Protection Fund—from March 2009, will be joining the group later this year at a so-far unspecified date.
McKinlay could not be reached for comment. Lloyds Banking Group had not returned calls for comment by press time.
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