State Street has expanded its exchange-traded funds (ETF) business, appointing Amanda Skelly to the newly created role of head of SPDR ETFs and Shaun Parkin as business development manager for wholesale ETF sales.
Reporting to State Street's head of SPDR ETFs for the Asia-Pacific, Frank Henze, Skelly will be responsible for driving business strategy and product development in Australia, and educating institutional and retail investors about the uses of ETFs.
Skelly joins the company after a decade with Russell Investments, most recently as the director of its ETF business in Australia. She has also held posts at ING Australia, Insurance Australia Group and Morgan Stanley in business and product roles.
Shaun Parkin has been hired to work under Skelly as business development manager for wholesale ETF sales. Prior to the appointment, Parkin worked as national manager of portfolio services at Lonsec and with companies Shaw Stockbroking, ICAP and JP Morgan.
Henze said the appointments reflected the company's strategy to provide investors with a comprehensive range of products to meet investment goals under all market conditions.
"They (ETFs) facilitate the creation of portfolios that are well diversified across asset classes and geographies … In Australia, we are seeing increasing appetite for simple, transparent, cost-efficient investments that are managed by a reliable institution.
"This demand is particularly strong in the expanding SMSF sector," he said.
