Minesh Gajjar

Identify attractive investment opportunities from third party fund managers and provide a focused advisory service to clients of the various global business units, both onshore and offshore.
• Provide leadership and direction by developing and evolving the fund research and communication proposition.
• Operate as the primary relationship contact for the UK and European investment office and front office. Also operate within a secondary capacity for Middle East and Asia.
• Consideration on the tax status of the client is paramount and involves liaison with other various teams.
• Conduct fund research and monitoring and present views to internal clients, including discretionary portfolio managers, investment consultants, wealth managers and private bankers within a client-directed format.
• Research covers all asset classes from traditional (equity/fixed income) and alternatives (commodity, property and hedge funds), to passive investments (ETF's)
• Member at board meetings to discuss asset allocation and to strengthen the portfolio proposition.
• Oversee the work of a small team within fund research, selection and communication.

Involved in all aspects of the investment process, including managing multi-manager (both long-only and hedge) UCITS portfolios and separate mandates with AUM close to $2bn.
• Instrumental in defining the investment framework and building a team of investment professionals.
• Member of the Investment Committee (IC) - aim was to maximise performance within agreed risk parameters.
• Member of the International Strategy Committee (StratCom) - aim was to set asset allocation parameters, construct risk-profiled portfolios, set the overall macro strategy and make tactical investment decisions.
• Managed multi-asset, multi-manager portfolios and conducted research on long only & hedge fund managers.
• Managed the overall relationship between the Asset Management team and the group-owned Private Banks.
• Chaired and presented at monthly investment meetings with Private Bankers across the business globally to discuss portfolio positioning, manager views, performance, product development and overall macro strategy.
• Involved in managing a liquidity-premium portfolio, investing across asset based lending and other strategies.
• Had managed a volatility arbitrage strategy investing directly in structured options trades, used to manage overall risk and beta exposure and to add uncorrelated alpha to portfolios.
• Wrote monthly and periodical commentaries, market updates and other performance reporting material.
• Oversaw the work of two Investment Analysts who conducted macro and quantitative analysis.
• Undertook my responsibilities with the use of Excel, PerTrac, Style Research, MorningStar and Bloomberg.

• Created an Excel based risk management database and a client risk factor analysis report.
• Created new fact sheets and quantitative performance reporting documentation for distribution to clients.
• Created the contribution and attribution analysis of portfolio returns and the reporting of the analysis.
• Had been the sole contact for the sales team and for clients on quantitative queries on our portfolios.
• Conducted quantitative and competitor analysis on underlying fund managers and various hedge strategies.

• Conducted analytical planning and product development for all index products.
• Was instrumental in defining new products - including the FTSE Industrial Classification Benchmark (ICB)
• Played a key role in preparing business plans, including medium- and short-term financial planning, product strategies, life cycles and feasibility studies.
• Conducted regular analysis on clients use to determine penetration of index products.
• Carried out regular competitor analysis focusing on market developments and competitor initiatives.
• Wrote and presented management reports covering Global ETF and European Derivatives markets.

Analyst within the Finance division of WCS (Wholesale Client Segment) CRM leading the Revenue Coding Project
• The project was to outline service conditions for internal clients, their revenues and cost-sharing initiatives.
• Worked with the Senior Executive VP and Head of the International Desk in leading the project to completion.
• Devised and implemented solid SLA's to resolve issues regarding future revenue sharing.
• Initiated and maintained strong working relationships between the three internal business units.
• Regularly travelled to the head office in Amsterdam to liaise with senior members of staff and internal clients for presentations on progress updates and to facilitate work planning.
• Succeeded in completing the project 3 months ahead of schedule.

FOR Securities were a financial services firm specialising in research and brokerage services for institutional investors complimented by a corporate finance function for pre-IPO companies. Produced regular periodical research reports, sector reports and market commentary using Bloomberg.
• Created, maintained and monitored 'virtual' portfolios to help establish asset management arm.
• Assisted the brokers with taking orders, booking trades, position keeping and commission calculations.
• Communicated directly with clients on queries and assisted with the presentation of equity research.
• Assisted in sector research & analysis and compiling of statistical metrics & data for the valuation of companies