Howley spent the last 15 years at BlackRock, where she held fixed income and LDI product specialist positions. Her responsibilities included mandate oversight, consultant liaison and client relationship management.

Ignis currently manages £30 billion (about $47.7 billion) of assets against liabilities, primarily on behalf of its parent company, Phoenix Group, and associated life insurance clients. In terms of fixed income, the firm manages some £55 billion in assets.

Already this month the UK asset manager has hired Mark Julio as portfolio manager for emerging markets equities, recruiting him from Baring Asset Management. The firm also took on Simon Cowan as fund sales director, responsible for wealth manager and discretionary accounts in London.

At the end of August, Ignis logged a rise in profits of £19 million ($30.2 billion) in the six months to 30 June, up by £1 million on the same period a year before, despite difficult trading conditions.