The Investment Association Grows Corporate Affairs Team with Two Senior Hires

Tuesday 03 April 2018

The Investment Association (IA) has appointed Anisha Patel as Head of Communications and Hannah Marwood as Head of Government Affairs to help boost the industry’s profile with consumers and policymakers. Reporting to Emily Walch, Corporate Affairs Director, they will be responsible for helping to protect, promote and enhance the reputation of the asset management industry.

The IA’s Corporate Affairs team was formed after business restructuring in 2017, following CEO Chris Cummings arrival at the IA in September 2016. The Corporate Affairs team has been expanding to encompass a media relations team and a government affairs team.

Anisha Patel will lead the IA’s communications strategy to help the industry better tell the story of what it does and why it matters to the man and woman on the street. She managed media relations for Goldman Sachs’s asset management division, significantly raising its profile and coverage across EMEA and Asia. Anisha spent seven years at Brunswick Group in their London and San Francisco offices advising global brands on strategic communications, media campaigns and investor relations.

Hannah Marwood will lead the IA’s advocacy work, making sure that politicians, policy makers and regulators better understand the asset management industry’s role and the impact it has on their constituents’ lives. Prior to joining the IA, Hannah was an Associate Director at Teneo Blue Rubicon, focusing on advising major companies, including financial services clients, on government affairs and issues management.

Emily Walch, Corporate Affairs Director of the Investment Association, commented:

“I am delighted to welcome two such talented senior women to the IA. The asset management industry touches all aspects of public life from managing consumers’ pensions to holding big business to account.

“As our industry gets used to life on the public square, we need to up our game on how we communicate to consumers in a way that showcases our relevance to their daily lives. Hannah and Anisha will play a critical role in supporting me to shine a spotlight on the IA’s expertise, champion our member firms, and ensure the industry’s voice is better understood by the public, government and regulators.”

The IA is focused on ensuring this structurally important industry is better understood. The asset management industry manages the pensions and savings of millions of UK households and holds big business to account, as it owns one-third of the FTSE.

-Ends-

Notes to the Editors:
Anisha Patel and Hannah Marwood both started on 19 March 2018

For media enquiries:

Anisha Patel, Head of Communications: [email protected]
T +44 (0)20 7269 4635

Helen Ayres, Media Relations Manager: [email protected]
T +44 (0)20 7269 4696, M +44 7508 724066

About the Investment Association:

• The IA champions UK asset management, supporting British savers, investors and businesses. Our 240 members manage £6.9 trillion of assets and employ 93,500 people across the UK.
• Our mission is to make investment better. Better for clients, so they achieve their financial goals. Better for companies, so they get the capital they need to grow. And better for
• the economy, so everyone prospers.
• Our purpose is to ensure investment managers are in the best possible position to:
  • Build people’s resilience to financial adversity
  • Help people achieve their financial aspirations
  • Enable people to maintain a decent standard of living as they grow older
  • Contribute to economic growth through the efficient allocation of capital.
• The money our members manage is in a wide variety of investment vehicles including authorised investment funds, pension funds and stocks and shares ISAs.
• The UK is the second largest investment management centre in the world, after the US and manages 37% of all assets managed in Europe.