Research house Standard & Poor's Fund Services (S&P) has boosted its research team with the appointment of an additional ratings analyst and two sector head promotions.
Aniket Das joined the research house as an analyst, while James Gunn was promoted to sector head for Australian equities and Andrew Yap to sector head for multi-sector funds.
Das was previously a research analyst at Ibbotson Associates, where his responsibilities included fund manager research.
He also assisted the Australian equities portfolio manager in the day-to-day operations of the Ibbotson Australian equity trusts, and quantitative and qualitative research into the sector.
Given the size of the equities sector, Gunn was made associate director and sector head for Australian equities, allowing current sector head Justine Gorman to focus solely on international equities, S&P said.
Additionally, S&P said Tara Bell had rejoined the research house as an associate director based in Melbourne.
Bell previously worked at S&P from 2006 to 2009 and her experience spans 14 years in the finance industry.
Before S&P, she worked as an economist and managed fund analyst and also had key responsibility for managing dealer group and research house relationships at UBS Asset Management.
"Continued evolution of equities products and a renewed focus on more dynamic and objectives-based multi-sector funds demands further specialisation and focus by our research team," S&P head of research Leanne Milton said.
"The promotion of two strong senior analysts, Ms Bell's return and Mr Das's appointment allows us to draw on their expertise to produce more quality research for the benefit of our clients."
