Schroders promotes top private markets exec

Schroders Australia has underlined its confidence in the private markets by elevating one if its top-flight alternatives specialists.

Claire Smith has started a new position as head of private assets sales.

Up until this year, she was alternatives director in the private assets team working with institutional and intermediary clients with private debt, private equity, infrastructure, insurance-linked securities, securitised credit and real estate.

Earlier she worked as an investment director - infrastructure finance and responsible for product structuring and fundraising for Schroders' infrastructure debt and equity platforms.

Before joining Schroders, she worked at Macquarie for 13 years in a number of roles, including infrastructure debt solutions, fund structuring and portfolio management and derivatives structuring.

Schroders Australia chief executive Sam Hallinan said Smith's recent appointment to head of private assets sales for Australia and New Zealand reflects her expertise and dedication to private assets, stemming from 19 years of alternatives experience in Australia and the UK.

"Claire joined Schroders in 2017 in London and transferred to Schroders' Australia office in 2020. Since then, she has made it her mission to raise awareness of private assets, including how alternatives work, what they deliver to clients and how they can enhance portfolio outcomes.

"Her passion for the investment opportunities within private assets is unwavering, and I look forward to Claire continuing to champion Schroders' private assets profile in Australia and New Zealand."