Axioma Taps Brian Smith as its Head of Australia, NZ, Opens Melbourne Office

Axioma, a provider of risk management solutions for buy-side institutions, has opened its new Australian office, ushering in the appointment of Brian Smith as its newest Head of Australia and New Zealand with immediate effect, per a company statement.

In his new role as the Head of Australia and NZ, Mr. Smith will be based out of Melbourne, where he will be reporting to Olivier d’Assier, Axioma’s Asia-Pacific (APAC) Managing Director. The new appointment is Mr. Smith’s first promotion at Axioma since joining the group in 2014.

Mr. Smith originally joined Axioma in its Singapore office, having worked in its business development unit for nearly two years. He previously held other senior level roles at MSCI Inc. and RiskMetrics, along with multiple sales stints dating back to 1999, according to information made public on his Linkedin profile.

The new Melbourne office constitutes Axioma’s fourth in the region, which now boasts offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo. The launch of the new office coincided with an increasing demand from institutional clients and asset owners in the region.

According to Mr. d’Assier, in a recent statement on the office: “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. 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.”

“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,” explained Mr. Smith in an accompanying statement.

The appointment of Mr. Smith is the group’s first move .