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The funds unit of UBS has appointed a head of impact investments for the first time, as finews.com has learned. The experienced executive will be working from the Netherlands.
UBS is appointing Narina Mnatsakanian as head of Impact Investing, according to a memo seen by finews.com, effective immediately. In the newly created role Mnatsakanian will lead the expansion of UBS Asset Management’s impact investing offering, research and impact measurement capabilities.
Mnatsakanian joins Lucy Thomas’ team who has was appointed head of sustainability at UBS Asset Management just over a year ago.
Thomas described the development of the impact area, where the focus is on the actual sustainable impact of investments, as a strategic priority.
The new appointee previously headed sustainability & impact investment at independent Dutch asset manager Van Lanschot Kempen. Before Kempen, Mnatsakanian worked at private equity funds and as an asset manager for Dutch pension funds. She also led the global networks & outreach department at the UN Principles for Responsible Investment network.
Mnatsakanian becomes a member of sustainable investing’s leadership team and is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, it added.
UBS reorganized its sustainability offering in mid-2021, appointing Michael Baldinger as the bank’s chief sustainability officer. He has the coordinator role, while the individual initiatives are based in the bank’s divisions. Suni Harford, the head of asset management, acts as a sponsor for sustainability and impact concerns on the UBS group executive board.
