Equity Trustees hires from Perpetual

Equity Trustees has appointed Johnny Francis as head of business development and custody of the firm's corporate trustee services business.

Francis joins the responsible entity and trustee services provider from Perpetual where he was most recently head of sales and relationship management for managed fund services.

He was at Perpetual for seven years.

Before that, he held senior roles at chartered accounting and advisory firm RSM Australia and corporate advisory specialists PPB Advisory.

Commenting on the hire, Russell Beasley, executive general manager of Equity Trustees corporate trustee services business (CTS) noted the strong and growing demand for specialist, independent responsible entity services both in Australia and overseas.

"We are confident the market knowledge and experience Johnny brings to the table will help us to continue to grow the business to its full potential," he said.

Equity Trustees CTS division currently has more than $100 billion in funds under management, acting as the responsible entity for nearly 300 funds and 100 investment managers.

In addition, the CTS division provides a full range of trustee services including debt capital markets and securitisation, loan market and property services.