Goji, an investment manager and platform in the Direct Lending sector, has added two seasoned wealth management executives to its new advisory board.
The board’s expertise will enable Goji to further pioneer Direct Lending in the advisory sector during the 2018 IFISA season.
Paul McMahon, former group marketing director of Aegon and UK CEO of FNZ, and Vincent Bordes, Founding Partner of Vestigo, the credit risk consultancy, will comprise the advisory board.
Goji has also expanded its executive team with the appointment of Elizabeth McCallum as Head of Marketing, David Beacham as Head of Distribution, and three regional business development managers to drive sales in the advisory space. Goji has also appointed Rehan Islam as Head of Investments. This addition of talent comes ahead of Goji’s Series A fundraise and will enable the company to further build its product offering, develop its platform, and build its distribution capability as it takes Direct Lending to a new market of financial advisers.
At a time when yields on traditional fixed income and savings products are likely to remain low, and inflation rising to a high of 3.1 per cent for the first time in 5 years, despite a rise in UK interest rates, Goji believes it is crucial that advisers explore every opportunity for steady, consistent returns. However, investors are only just getting comfortable with Direct Lending and the IFISA, despite data showing the asset class has provided low-volatility returns between 4.5 per cent -7 per cent since 2006. By putting old fashioned risk management and portfolio construction at the core of its products and platform, Goji is bringing the power of Direct Lending to advisers in need of above-inflation returns after a decade of lost earnings growth.
“Advisers are starting to embrace Direct Lending as an asset class. The names unveiled on our board signal confidence in both Goji’s underlying investments and our mission to bring Direct Lending to the intermediary sector. By applying traditional portfolio management principles with rigorous risk-based assessments, we want to help advisers feel comfortable engaging with Direct Lending, better equip them with the knowledge and expertise to engage clients with this opportunity, whilst also helping this exciting industry mature,” says Jake Wombwell-Povey, CEO, Goji
Elizabeth McCallum joins Goji from financial services advertising agency AML Group where she was Client Services Director with overall responsibility for AML’s client relationships including AXA Investment Managers, Robeco, Bank of New York Mellon, Partnership Assurance and Quilter Cheviot.
David Beacham joins Goji from Just Retirement where he was Director of Business Development and responsible for strategic relationships across National Accounts and key specialist distributors. With over 27 years of experience working across the UK Intermediary/Wealth Management sectors David has worked for firms including Praemium, Winterthur Life and AXA.
Rehan Islam was a fixed income products trader having led the effort to build Goldman Sachs’ car financing desk and Société Générale’s collateralized loan desk. Rehan has also worked at leading robo-advisor Scalable Capital and financial planning start up Finimize bringing both extensive expertise in credit and wealth management to Goji.
The new additions to the Executive Team will grow Goji’s product offering and distribution offering. Chief amongst this is the Diversified Lending Bond. Launched in January 2017, the bond was the first UK product to give investors access to a diversified portfolio of over 1,000 loans in an IFISA using Goji’s proprietary investment strategy. Alongside Goji’s platform, which provides a single point of access for advisers to Direct Lending products, the Bond provides a vehicle for access to Direct Lending.
