State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) has bolstered its management team with the appointment of Kathleen Gallagher as head of ETF model portfolios for EMEA and Asia Pacific.
Gallagher will be reporting to Rory Tobin, global head of SPDR ETFs and will be based in London. She begins her new role immediately.
Responsibilities include delivering SSGA's institutional multi-asset class investment capabilities to the intermediary market, primarily through managed ETF portfolios.
Prior to joining State Street, Gallagher was at BlackRock (and previously at Barclays Global Investors) where she was most recently head of investment strategy in the iShares' solutions team. In here last role responsible for the research and development of multi-asset solutions including managed ETF portfolios.
Tobin said Gallagher's experience working with clients to create investment portfolios tailored to their investment profile would allow the company to combine the best of SPDR ETFs with State Street's institutional asset allocation capability.
"The intermediary advice model is changing around Europe, bringing new challenges to advisors," he said. "Increased regulation and changing policy on fees mean advisors face tougher conditions in which to build viable businesses."
The model portfolio approach can help financial advisers who wish to focus on asset allocation or who are looking to specialize on estate planning and taxation advice. By outsourcing portfolio construction to a third party, State Street asserts, it means advisers can build more scalable businesses which are not dependent on building custom portfolios.
Gallagher said it remained challenging for advisers to sift through the investment products available to them.
"Model portfolios can help bring investment strategies to life for end investors, allowing them to map their investment strategy to their individual risk appetite, time horizon and return requirements," she said.
