Aviva Investors has announced the appointment of James Edwards as head of UK institutional.
Edwards joins Aviva Investors after spending the last seven and a half years at Colombia Threadneedle, where he was director of institutional business.
Prior to that, he was a director at BlackRock as part of its fixed income product strategy team, covering unconstrained and absolute return fixed income strategies.
He has also held roles at Barclays Global Investors and BNY Mellon.
Edwards will be based in London and report to Steven Gardner head of institutional, EMEA.
Gardner joined Aviva Investors in August 2024, where he is responsible for developing the asset manager’s institutional strategy across the UK and EMEA regions.
Aviva has made numerous changes to its institutional team globally in September 2025, with Julie Caron joining the business as head of institutional, Americas, and Dean Liotta as managing director, institutional, Americas.
In January, Aviva Investors appointed Heather Brown as head of EMEA institutional client relationship management, having previously led Aviva Investors’ UK institutional sales team.
Brown’s appointment was followed in February by Duane Green joining the firm, where he is CEO, Americas.
Gardner said: “Institutional investors remain a vitally important group of clients and it is critical we have the right personnel in place to help them reach their long-term objectives.
“Adding James to our team is another sign of the commitment we have to providing these investors with exceptional expertise and a sound understanding of the challenges they face.
“We believe his deep knowledge across asset classes and his strong solutions mindset will be invaluable. We look forward the positive impact he will have on our UK institutional business and the clients we work on behalf of.”
In August, Aviva launched a guaranteed fixed-term annuity, an addition to its retirement income portfolio, designed to offer clients “greater control of how they manage their pension savings”.
The guaranteed fixed-term income plan is an annuity proposition that provides a guaranteed income over a fixed term, between three and 25 years, without requiring a lifetime commitment.
