Sector developments and company hires

Dutch mortgage alliance expanded
Achmea Bank is set to acquire a €500m mortgage portfolio from Dutch insurer a.s.r., which will continue to manage the mortgages for Achmea Bank. The two organisations have expressed the intention to conduct additional transactions of €500m in both 2022 and 2023. In addition, Achmea Bank will acquire roughly €190m of newly originated mortgages from a.s.r. annually for the next three years.

These are mainly mortgages with a short fixed-interest period. The acquisition has no impact on servicing related to customers in this portfolio.

These transactions are an expansion of the strategic mortgage alliance between Achmea and a.s.r., which began in 2019.

Overall a.s.r. manages roughly €11bn of mortgages on its balance sheet, as well as over €9bn for external clients through mortgage funds and external mandates. Meanwhile, the combined mortgage portfolio of all Achmea brands equals roughly €29bn, but the firm intends to further expand its share of the mortgage market in the next few years.

EMEA
Crestbridge has appointed Cheryl Bai as director, head of funds UK. Bai will help drive the firm’s expansion in the private equity, venture capital, private debt, real assets and structured credit sectors.

She joins Crestbridge from SS&C Technologies Holdings, where she was responsible for leading a large client services team in multiple jurisdictions and servicing an extensive portfolio of private equity clients. Prior to this, she held roles at IQEQ and Augentius.

Fidelity International has appointed Nick Haaijman to the newly established role of global head of private asset solutions, reporting to global cio Andrew McCaffery. Based in London, Haaijman will work with Fidelity’s private assets investment teams to support the firm’s growth plans by developing its global private assets solutions capabilities. He joins from CVC Credit Partners, where he served as head of client servicing.

SCOR Investment Partners has announced several internal promotions in a bid to enhance its third-party asset management business. The company’s current ceo François de Varenne will move to become the chairman of the supervisory board and be replaced by ex-cio Fabrice Rossary.

Benjamin Ayache and Eric Talleux will continue to serve in their current roles as coo and chief risk officer respectively. Joining the management board are Louis Bourrousse, who will move from head of investment business performance for SCOR Global Investments to work as the new head of business development, as well as Marie-Suzanne Mazelier - who takes on the role of cio, having previously served as head of aggregate.

Further appointments within the company include Thibut Lameyse, who worked previously as strategic investments manager for SCOR and will now report to Rossary as general secretary. Additionally, Alexandre Stoessel and Sophie Duclos Grenet have been named head of fixed income and head of fund selection respectively, reporting to Mazelier.