Etienne Rougier has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer at Universal Investment Group. He joins from Alliance Bernstein. As of this week he is responsible for driving and transforming the business to support its overall growth strategy.
In his new role Etienne Rougier will be responsible for technology, operations and change management. Rougier’s appointment expands UI’s most senior management. It already consists of chief executive officer Michael Reinhard, chief customer officer Katja Müller and chief regulatory officer Frank Eggloff.
“His international perspective will help us take our operations in Europe to the next level and support our planned office openings in North America and Asia,” said Reinhard in a statement. “In Luxembourg, Etienne will contribute to the further integration of our latest acquisition EFA - European Fund Administration.”
Rouger’s role includes enhancing customer delivery, which involves the onboarding experience for customers, seamless account maintenance and superior fund accounting. Through his leadership role, he will further strengthen the development of Universal Investment’s growing subsidiaries in Luxembourg, the firm said.
Aged 50, Rougier started his career at AXA Investment Managers where he led several business reorganisation projects, most notably the outsourcing of AXA IM operations in Europe. In 2005, he was named Global Head of Change Management.
He then moved to London to set up the multi-manager boutique Architas, a new asset management firm for AXA Group, where he was COO for five years and responsible for process implementation and business development. In 2013, he joined Alliance Bernstein where he spent almost ten years in various management roles.
As Head of EMEA and Asia Insurance, he was responsible for client services, business development and implementing bespoke services for insurers in these markets. Rougier holds a master’s degree in finance and will support Universal Investment’s ambition to become one of the leading fund service platforms in Europe.