MASECO Private Wealth Names Investment Policy Director

Tom Burroughes

8 June 2016

has appointed Helge Kostka as its chief investment officer, responsible for managing the firm’s $1 billion-plus asset portfolios.

He will also lead the research team that works with the academic community, the firm, which is based in central London, said in a statement yesterday.

Previously, Kostka helped to establish and grow the presence of Research Affiliates in Europe. The firm is a prominent player in areas such as “smart beta” and asset allocation, with approximately $160 billion in assets managed worldwide. (Smart beta, according to one definition, is about a “set of investment strategies that emphasise the use of alternative index construction rules to traditional market capitalisation-based indices. Smart beta emphasises capturing investment factors or market inefficiencies in a rules-based and transparent way".)

Kostka has also worked for Aviva Investors in London, serving as head of product management and head of product specialists in the areas of investment solutions, equity and multi-asset products. Before Aviva, he served in a number of roles for Deutsche Bank’s asset management entities, including head of qualitative alpha selection and head of portfolio engineering.

His experience in smart beta and factor investing across asset classes goes back over a decade.

MASECO was started in 2008 to focus on expat US citizens, a business area that has moved into the limelight since the enactment of the controversial US tax compliance law on expats known as FATCA.