Amundi's UK Institutional Chief Quits, 11 Months In

(May 20, 2014) — Amundi’s UK head for institutional business Mark Miller has quit the company after less than a year in his role, aiCIO has learned.

Miller is set to join Hermes Fund Managers at the end of June in a newly-created role as head of UK & MENA institutional, reporting to head of business development Harriet Steel.

Steel said Miller’s appointment “recognises the strategic importance of the UK institutional market to Hermes” and added that the group would seek to “build substantially” its external client base.

Hermes, which is wholly owned by the BT pension scheme, first opened its doors to running money for other institutions in 1997.

Miller joined Amundi from Blackstone Alternative Asset Management last summer, where he held the same role in charge of its UK institutional division. Amundi hired Miller alongside Jerry Devlin, who joined as head of UK distribution, as part of the firm’s plans to raise its profile in the national institutional and wholesale markets.

A spokesperson for Amundi confirmed that Miller had resigned from his position and was on “gardening leave”. The group is actively recruiting a replacement but the position is currently vacant.

Prior to joining Blackstone, Miller spent six years at Fidelity, latterly—perhaps familiarly—as head of UK institutional.

In other HR moves, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) has hired former World Bank Chief Economist Christof Rühl to the newly-created position of global head of research, leading a new research department for the sovereign wealth fund.

Rühl is set to take up the position in July and will report to Khaleefa Al Qamzi, director of ADIA’s “evaluation & follow-up” division, according to the sovereign fund. 

In a statement announcing Rühl’s appointment, ADIA said the new global research facility he will manage will support the organization’s senior executives with “proprietary fundamental and macroeconomic research”.

Rühl was previously at oil giant BP where he served as group chief economist and vice president, and has also worked as principal economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development.

—Nicholas Reeve, Assistant European Editor, aiCIO

[Note: This article has been updated to include details of Miller’s new position, and Hermes’ confirmation of his hiring.]