Antony John

Principal at Ilex Associates

Speaker

Antony is one of the most experienced veteran investment management experts around. He was formerly Regional Head of abrdn’s UK Client Group with responsibility and oversight of £120bn of external UK Institutional, Wholesale and Liquidity clients, which included the UK strategic partnerships (ex-Phoenix) and additional global oversight of private markets.

He was appointed to this role at the end of 2019 following his consultancy leadership of the global client integration project as a result of the merger between Standard Life Investments and Aberdeen Asset Management.

Antony is principal of Ilex Associates, a specialist asset management consultancy. Notable assignments included Aberdeen Asset Management, Aberdeen Standard Investments, Federated Hermes, Franklin Templeton, Willis Towers Watson (AMX), Fisch Asset Management, Janus Henderson and Alliance Bernstein.

From 2013 to 2015, Antony was CEO of the currency manager The ECU Group plc. ECU is a privately-owned firm with a specialism in managing currency debt portfolios and managed currency alpha portfolios.

Prior to ECU, Antony was CEO of FundQuest (2008 – 2012), the institutional multi manager specialist of BNP Paribas Investment Partners which managed and advised on over £30bn of pension, strategic partners and family office assets. This followed the acquisition by BNP Paribas of Investment Manager Selection (IMS), in 2008, at that time the largest independent institutional multi manager in the UK (£6.3bn), where Antony was CEO and one of five principal shareholders.

Before joining IMS in 2003 Antony was an Executive Vice President at the Swiss Private Bank Lombard Odier, with responsibility for the £17bn Northern European asset management clients with teams in London, Geneva, Zurich, Paris, and Amsterdam.

Antony spent the formative years of his career, between 1988 and 1998, at Hill Samuel Asset Management, culminating in heading the UK client business for institutional and wholesale assets.

Antony is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment and a Freeman of the City of London.