Mediolanum International Funds Ltd (MIFL), the Irish asset management division of the Mediolanum Banking Group, has appointed Luc Simoncini as head of its product specialist team.

In this role, Mr Simoncini will work as a contact point for both Mediolanum group distributors and institutional clients. Internally, his team acts as the link between the investment team and key areas such as product development, marketing, communications, istribution oversight and client experience.

He will report to the investment chief operating officer, Michael Paterson, and will be based in the firm’s Dublin office.

Mr Simoncini rejoins MIFL from Kames Capital, where he was an equities senior investment Specialist and a member of its investment team for the past five years.

Mr Simoncini’s career spans over 20 years in asset management, and includes senior roles at Schroders, where he was global equities client portfolio manager, investment specialist and at Pioneer Investments where he was institutional investment specialist for Asia and Australia.  Formerly he a was senior marketing manager at MIFL, where he was also chairman of MedLab, the company’s cross-departmental research and development unit.

Commenting on the new appointment, Furio Pietribiasi, managing director at MIFL said: “MIFL is delighted to welcome Luc back into the organisation. This appointment is a natural step considering the major expansion of our Investment team over the past two years.”