Towers Watson has appointed Nico Aspinall to lead its UK defined contribution investment business.
Mr Aspinall is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and joins Towers Watson's London team after four years at the Barclays Bank UK Retirement Fund, where he was an associate director for DC and communications.
His responsibilities in his former role covered all elements of the trust's DC strategy, including: investment strategy and manager selection; implementation and transition management; and, delivering communications to more than 250,000 members.
Prior to working at Barclays, Mr Aspinall was a consultant with Deloitte.
Chris Ford, head of investment for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Towers Watson, said: 'I am very pleased to welcome Nico to Towers Watson where he will lead and grow the DC Investment team.
'His appointment comes at a time of increasing demand from clients for innovative and cost-effective DC solutions in the rapidly changing UK pensions environment.'
Mr Aspinall added: 'I am delighted to join Towers Watson and to lead the DC investment team in the UK. I know that this is a really challenging time for our clients and I look forward to bringing my deep in-house experience to help design and deliver the best solutions for them.'
The latest addition to the Towers Watson team follows other significant recent appointments to the company's DC business. These include Richard Sweetman, who was appointed as head of DC pension consulting for the company's Northern region, and consultant Michael Varma, who has over 20 years of relevant pensions experience.
Towers Watson said it was looking to further expand its 100-strong DC consulting team in the coming months, in response to what it said was 'growing client demand' for its services in this area.