Axioma, a leading provider of innovative risk-management and portfolio-construction solutions to financial institutions, today announced the launch of its Australia office and the appointment of Brian Smith as the Head of Australia and New Zealand. Smith will be based in Melbourne.
The launch underscores the increasing demand from institutional clients and asset owners for risk-management and portfolio-construction tools to support decision-making across complex multi-asset class portfolios in an environment of increased regulation.
“Axioma’s Australia office was established in direct response to the unprecedented demand we are seeing from institutional clients and asset owners, particularly in the multi-asset space,” said Olivier d’Assier, Asia Pacific Managing Director for Axioma. “Asset owners are taking more control of their portfolios, in-sourcing portfolio management and seeking improvement from the tools they use to manage risk and to make allocation decisions, which plays directly to Axioma’s strengths.”
Smith brings to Axioma more than 13 years of industry experience in both Australia and the U.S. He was previously with RiskMetrics, where he oversaw overall growth in APAC for multi-asset class analytics products.
Commenting on his appointment, Smith said, “Australian institutions are seeing increased pressure from regulators and investors for risk transparency, requiring market-standard tools. At the same time, they need customized tools that are consistent with their investment process. The flexibility and power of Axioma’s platform meets both requirements. I look forward to helping our clients in the region to capitalize on the innovative risk-management and portfolio-construction tools that Axioma offers.”
Smith will report to Olivier d’Assier, APAC Managing Director for Axioma.
“The combination of Brian’s experience and Axioma’s innovative risk-management and portfolio-construction tools will be invaluable to our clients as we continue to expand Axioma’s footprint in Asia,” said d’Assier.
The Melbourne office is Axioma’s fourth in the region, joining Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo, which opened in April 2016.