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New CIO for the Pension Protection Fund

Barry Kenneth, a Morgan Stanley managing director, will take over the top job, which has been empty since last summer.
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(March 13, 2013) – The United Kingdom’s Pension Protection Fund (PPF)–a lifeboat for more than £13 billion in retirement assets from defunct schemes-has a new captain.

Barry Kenneth will take over in June as chief investment officer, a role that has been empty since Ian McKinlay’s departure last summer. 

Kenneth is currently a managing director at Morgan Stanley, and the firm’s head of institutional fixed income and pensions in the UK. He previously held a number of different roles within the financial services firm since joining in 2004, including heading up the European pensions group. From 1995 to 2004, Kenneth worked for the Royal Bank of Scotland, advising on interest rate derivatives.

“Our investment portfolio has become increasingly sophisticated and has received considerable industry recognition for its innovation and performance,” said Martin Clarke, PPF’s executive director of financial risk, in a statement. “Barry will have a crucial part to play in developing PPF’s investment function, to help make sure we continue to pay compensation to our members for as long as they need it and achieve the PPF’s target of securing financial self-sufficiency by 2030.” 

Self-sufficiency means it would no longer demand an annual levy from healthy UK pension funds – an issue that has proved thorny over the years. 

The former CIO, McKinlay, left PPF after three years in the top spot to join insurance and asset management firm Aviva, managing its staff pension fund. Kenneth will inherit a larger, more diverse portfolio than did McKinlay when he arrived in 2005.

“The PPF has developed into an impressive financial institution with an enviable track record in implementing innovative and exciting investment strategies,” Kenneth commented. “I am looking forward to contributing to the organisation’s further success while playing an important part in providing real security to millions of pension scheme members.”

Even without a CIO at the helm, PPF’s performance has been impressive of late. It posted a 25% return on its investments for the 12 months ending last March-one the highest returns in the post-crisis industry. 

Related Power 100 profiles: Ian McKinlay & Martin Clarke