With Abdallah Nauphal, CEO of the liability-driven investing giant Insight Investment, retiring in the first half of 2025, the BNY-owned firm has named Raman Srivastava CEO designate. Nauphal and Srivastava will work together as part of the transition of responsibilities.
Known as the “godfather” of liability-driven investing, Nauphal had been CEO of the global asset manager for 17 years. Under Abdallah’s leadership, Insight’s institutional client base has grown ten-fold, with total assets under management rising from $140 billion to $892 billion. Nauphal will formally retire when Srivastava is officially appointed Insight CEO later this year, subject to regulatory approval.
“It is still hard to imagine leaving a business that has been such a large part of my life for so long and I am exceptionally proud of what we have achieved over the last twenty years,” Abdallah said. “Having been heavily involved in the process to select a suitable successor over the last year, I know that the business will be in safe hands under Raman’s leadership, and I look forward to watching Insight’s continued success for years to come.”
Insight gained prominence by using an LDI approach to create customized fixed-income portfolios. When market volatility in the early 2000s drove British companies to de-risk their defined benefit pension plans, LDI strategies rapidly gained popularity across the corporate sector. Insight’s executives capitalized on the trend, making it one of the world’s largest LDI managers. BNY bought Insight in 2009.
As Institutional Investor reported in 2016, Nauphal focused on the massive U.S. market after building the franchise in the U.K. He was helped by BNY Mellon’s 2015 acquisition of Cutwater Asset Management, a $22 billion fixed-income specialist manager that was integrated into Insight.
Srivastava joins the London-based investment firm from Great-West Lifeco, where he was global chief investment officer. Prior to Great-West Lifeco, he was deputy CIO at Standish Mellon Asset Management.
Srivastava added that he looked “forward to working with Abdallah and the executive team” to lead the organization into the next phase “of its ambitious growth strategy.” Srivastava reports to Jose Minaya, Global Head of BNY Investments and Wealth. (Minaya joined BNY in September from Nuveen, stepping into the role following Hanneke Smits’ retirement).
