The fund selection and fund research markets are a major part of the multi-trillion pound investment industry but who are the key players within it?
In the latest of our series of video interviews with the most respected individuals who select funds, decide ratings or otherwise influence the allocation of investor fund flows, we meet Peter Elston, chief investment officer of Seneca Investment Managers.
Elston began his investment career in 1988 as a graduate trainee with Mercury Asset Management in London. He spent 11 years with the firm as an equities fund manager, based in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and London and moving up to the position of assistant director. Following a few years in entrepreneurship, during which time he became an investment columnist for Hong Kong's number one newspaper, the South China Morning Post, he joined Aberdeen Asset Management in Singapore in 2008 as an investment strategist.
He was with the firm for more than six years, taking on the role of head of Asia Pacific strategy and asset allocation in 2012. This latter role involved management of Aberdeen's multi-asset funds that were either invested in Asia or domiciled in Asia and invested globally. He was also a member of Aberdeen's global investment strategy unit.
Elston, who obtained his MA at Trinity College, Cambridge in Mathematics and Oriental Studies, is well known to print and television media, and has had numerous articles published in the Financial Times and other respected journals. You can read his recent feature for Professional Adviser, ‘Multi-asset and the changing nature of asset allocation', here.
The Investment Influencers series, which has most recently featured Matthew Stanesby of Close Brothers Asset Management, Dan Kemp of Morningstar and Richard Philbin of Harwood Wealth, will continue over the coming months, offering insights into how key industry players see the world of investing and expect to deal with such challenges as increased regulation, greater market volatility and a growing trend towards short-termism.
If you would like to put yourself or a colleague forward to take part in the Investment Influencers series, please email Georgina Walters
