News in brief 7 January

Written by Adam Cadle

07/01/2026

- AIG has appointed insurance industry veteran, Eric Andersen, as President and CEO-elect effective 16 February 2026.

This follows the announcement from chairman and current CEO, Peter Zaffino, that he intends to transition to executive chair of AIG and retire as CEO by mid-year after successfully leading the company’s transformation and strategic repositioning as a leading global property and casualty insurer.

Andersen joins AIG from Aon, where he most recently was a member of the Aon executive committee and served as a strategic adviser to the company’s President and CEO. Over nearly three decades with Aon, he held senior leadership roles, including President of Aon, CEO of Aon Benfield, and CEO of Aon Risk Solutions Americas, with prior leadership positions spanning global account management and financial services. During his time as President of Aon from 2020 through 2025, Andersen led global programmes that achieved gains in operational efficiency, improved performance for clients and the firm, increased shareholder returns, and grew market value from $35bn to $85bn.

- Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) has launched a global equity tilt fund, domiciled in the UK, and is part of its wider equity tilt fund range.

The fund is designed to help clients access broad global equity market exposure at a comparatively low cost, while managing the portfolio’s carbon footprint.

Using the MSCI World Index as the benchmark, the global equity tilt fund applies a series of small, diversified ‘tilts’ in favour of companies demonstrating stronger Environmental, Social or Governance (ESG) characteristics. This approach combines the best elements of passive and active management and allows the fund to improve ESG outcomes while keeping the expected tracking error low. The fund seeks to achieve a carbon footprint at least 10% below the benchmark, alongside long-term goals of achieving a 50% reduction in emissions by 2030 and net-zero by 2050.

RLAM intends to make equity tilt strategies available to investors as ETFs later in 2026.

- Allspring Global Investments has announced the appointment of Andrew Epsom as head of insurance – international.

In this newly created role, Epsom will lead Allspring’s international (ex-US) insurance efforts, leading the strategy to expand the company’s footprint across global insurance markets. He will be responsible for driving strategic engagements that address the unique regulatory and investment needs of insurers.

Epsom brings a depth of knowledge with over 25 years of experience working with insurers across both the asset management and consulting industry. He will be responsible for building new relationships and working across the firm’s international teams to develop Allspring’s existing international insurance footprint.

- Schroders Capital’s private debt & credit alternatives (PDCA) team has announced the appointment of Brad Ross-Williams as investment director, securitised products & asset-based finance (SP&ABF).

Prior to joining Schroders Capital, Ross-Williams was a senior ABS specialist at Manulife CQS Investment Management, responsible for developing investor relations for securitised hedge funds, multi-asset credit strategies and regulatory capital relief strategies.

Prior to CQS, he was a partner and head of investor relations at structured credit hedge fund, East Lodge Capital. With over 20 years of experience, he has also held senior roles at Haitong Investment Bank, Quest Fund Placement, Natixis Global Asset Management, HSBC Alternatives and Morgan Stanley.

- Aon has announced the appointment of Jaspal Phull and David Gaffney to its European real assets research team, reflecting the continued expansion of the firm’s private markets capabilities and growing investor demand for real asset solutions.

Phull joins as an associate partner, bringing extensive experience from his previous roles as a private markets investment specialist at Aviva Investors and as head of real assets research at Redington.

Gaffney joins as a senior consultant, having previously served as a real asset strategy and research analyst at Aviva Investors.

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