Home ListingApril 15, 2016

Lloyds Pension Strategy Chief Exits for Hedge Fund

Stephen McMillan is the third senior pension staffer to leave the £37 billion fund in less than 18 months.

Reported by Featured Author

Steve McMillan Art by Steve WacksmanThe head of investment strategy for Lloyds Banking Group’s £37 billion ($52 billion) of pension assets has departed for a hedge fund position.

Stephen McMillan joined BlueMountain Capital Management as an advisor last month following a three-and-a-half year stint at the Lloyds Banking Group pensions team.

He joined Lloyds in November 2012 as head of fixed income, and was promoted to the investment strategy role last year amid a raft of changes at the banking giant’s pension funds. Previously, McMillan was an investment consultant at Aon Hewitt.

McMillan is now a client advisor in BlueMountain’s London office, supporting “ongoing client and business development services,” his new employer said in a statement.

“Steve will be a strong asset in our continued efforts to foster relationships with institutional investors and provide the highest level of client service, especially given his previous experience managing fixed income and institutional investment strategies,” said Louisa Church, partner and head of EMEA client advisory at BlueMountain.

McMillan was named in CIO’s Forty Under Forty in 2014.

Lloyds is in the process of overhauling its pension arrangements, having hired Ian McKinlay as its pension CIO in July last year. Previously CIO of Aviva’s pension, McKinlay is now in charge of Lloyds Bank’s two defined benefit funds and another linked to its 2009 purchase of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS).

Richard Cooper of Momentum Investment Solutions & Consulting was placed in temporary charge of all three funds as an outsourced-CIO early in 2015 prior to McKinlay’s appointment.

Larissa Benbow, who led HBOS’ pension investments, and Simon Lee, who held a similar role for the Lloyds funds, both left the group in the first half of last year. Benbow has since joined AustralianSuper, while Lee is now CIO at high street chain Marks & Spencer’s pension fund.