Justin Onuekwusi of Legal & General Investment Management will join St. James’s Place (SJP) as chief investment officer (CIO) this coming October, reporting to director of investments Tom Beal, the firm has said.
In his new role, he will lead the development of SJP’s investment proposition, asset allocation approach and selection of fund managers.
Currently, Onuekwusi is responsible for Legal & General’s retail investment business and is a member of a team managing more than £65bn in assets.
In his 20-year career in the investment management industry, he has been multi-asset fund manager at Aviva Investors and also held positions at Merrill Lynch/Bank of America and Aon Consulting.
Commenting on the appointment, Beal said: “Justin will support the continual evolution of our investment management approach as we pursue our goal to deliver superior investment performance in a safe, responsible and cost-efficient manner, whilst continuing to meet the evolving needs of our partners and clients”.
The last time he spoke to Trustnet, Onuekwusi invited investors to invest for all eventualities, not just their ‘base case’, or the scenario that they believe is most likely to happen. That isn’t only true at uncertain times, but even when outlooks seem solid, as “base cases”, he claimed, are wrong 60% of the time.
Outside work, Onuekwusi advocates for diversity, equity and inclusion within the City of London Social Mobility Taskforce and the think-tanks City Hive and Diversity Project, which he co-founded.