Jacobi Asset Management (Jacobi) has announced the appointment of Martin Bednall as its new CEO, effective 1st August 2022. Bednall will also continue in his role at FinEx Capital Management.
Bednall’s predecessor, Jamie Khurshid, will step into a new role as Chairman of the Board while current Chairman Roy McGregor remains as a Director. McGregor also holds the position of Chairman of Jacobi Investment Funds PCC Limited.
The firm writes that as incoming CEO, Bednall brings unparalleled expertise in portfolio management, capital markets, operations and exchange-traded product development. Before working as Managing Director at FinEx for the last eight years, Bednall spent over 13 years in various roles at BlackRock including as the Co-Head iShares Product Team.
The firm says that with the addition of Martin Bednall, Jacobi gains the experience and expertise of an ETF veteran to continue the firm’s aspirations of being the premier digital ETF provider in Europe, building on the listing of Europe’s first Bitcoin ETF.
Commenting on the appointments, Jacobi Asset Management Chairman Roy McGregor says: “I want to welcome Martin to the company. I see his appointment as a key step in our journey to bring digital assets into the mainstream investment infrastructure and his experience within ETFs, particularly, as a significant addition to an already deep pool of experience.”
Incoming Chairman Jamie Khurshid adds: “Jacobi continues to develop its ambition to become Europe’s dominant digital asset ETF issuer. The launch of the Jacobi Bitcoin ETF is the beginning of an exciting roadmap for digital asset exchange-traded funds suitable for institutional, professional and sophisticated investors”.
Martin Bednall says: “I am absolutely delighted to join Jacobi at this very exciting and pivotal time in the digital asset market, and to build on the significant milestones already achieved by the founders. Having the first Bitcoin ETF in Europe gives Jacobi a fantastic base on which to build more products and distribution avenues to provide the market with the institutional grade, regulated digital asset products it needs.”
The Jacobi Bitcoin ETF will launch in August 2022 in line with the new appointments.
