Highly experienced institutional professional Malcolm Hunt appointed as firm's first Head of Portfolio Solutions

At bfinance, Malcolm will oversee the newly-created Portfolio Solutions group, taking on services previously managed by bfinance’s asset class strategists alongside the team of client consultants. These services will now be fully integrated on a cross-disciplinary basis and made accessible to a wider range of clients. Areas overseen by the Portfolio Solutions group include monitoring, risk analytics, portfolio health checks, and fee benchmarking and negotiation.

Malcolm’s most recent role at MSCI involved overseeing client support for over 600 real estate investment portfolios (AUM approximately 1 trillion USD) across EMEA, enabling their teams to get the most from analysis and make informed investment decisions. Malcolm has extensive experience of portfolio investment measurement, analysis, benchmarking and risk management; client service management including organisational design processes and transition management; and product research and design.

Prior to his role at MSCI, Malcolm was a Director of UK & Ireland at IPD, a Research Analyst at M&G and a Risk Analyst at Bristol & West. Until recently, Malcolm was also an Associate Tutor of Portfolio Performance Measurement at the College of Estate Management, Reading University.

Founded in 1999, bfinance initially became known for a disruptive approach to manager selection. Over the past decade, the team has provided a range of implantation resources and services to its increasingly sophisticated clients across the globe. These have included more qualitative monitoring of managers against relevant peer-groups, fee benchmarking and negotiation, analysis of risk exposures and business model reviews.

David Vafai, CEO at bfinance, said: “It is a privilege to welcome Malcolm to the bfinance team. Portfolio Solutions has represented an increasingly large proportion of the firm’s activities over recent years as sophisticated investors have sought support with a range of implementation issues, from fees and costs to risk exposures and manager monitoring. Governance of the full implementation chain is an increasingly high priority in today’s climate, and by creating a centralised Portfolio Solutions group we hope to improve the quality of the service we offer to our clients and open the door to new innovations leveraging the expertise and data across the firm.

Malcolm Hunt, commenting on his appointment, said: “I’m excited about developing bfinance’s range of services in response to client demands. In the Portfolio Solutions group, we will be taking a fresh approach, concentrating on how we can utilise the firm’s market intelligence, specialist expertise and independent position to meet the needs of investors. Initially, attention will be focussed on enhanced portfolio monitoring, portfolio audits and fee benchmarking, since this is where bfinance has a particularly strong record and where current demand is greatest. I’m delighted to be joining the team.”