Head of Enterprise Risk for a Growing Asset Management Company

The client is a global hedge fund with USD 1.5 billion of assets under management invested in developed markets and emerging markets. They are looking to grow their assets under management by about 25% CAGR in the next 4 years. In this growth environment, the nature of the risk function has changed considerably and a Chief Risk Officer will play a key role in ensuring healthy and sustainable growth of the investment book.

The ideal candidate for this role would be one who manages both operational and financial risk with an asset management firm. There are only a handful of executives who handle these dual responsibilities which makes getting the right fit difficult. Furthermore, the company has sold some erstwhile profitable businesses to turn itself from primarily a foreign exchange trader and use the funds to build an asset management company. While this transition has been successful, the company does not have currently a substantial track record to woo the most sought after candidates. It will require a good understanding of what would make these executives move to a younger company like our client.

A big advantage in attracting talent to this role was that the client’s Managing Director was a banking industry veteran with a well respected name after having led Asia operations for one of the largest global banks in the world. In fact, Ray & Berndtson’s involvement in this search was at his behest. Reaching out to the top candidates successfully required us to leverage his involvement in the organization, a strong leadership team and our client’s ambitious plans for growth.

After a comprehensive market mapping excercise and disucussions with several candidates, three candidates with the relevant credentials was presented as a shortlist to our client. Two were made an offer to join the company and one accepted the offer to take up the role. Under his leadership of the risk function, our client has been successfully able to meet its ambitious growth targets for the first year under his leadership.