Wesleyan, the Birmingham-based financial mutual, has appointed Robert Vaudry as its new Investments Managing Director.

He succeeds Clive Ward, who retires from the role later this year after 30 years with the Society.

Robert will oversee Wesleyan’s in house investments team, which manages more than £6 billion of funds.

In recent years he has managed two multi-award winning global funds as a partner of Quotidian Investments and prior to that worked in global roles for HSBC and Morgan Stanley. He has an MBA from London Business School, and has also worked as political secretary to former Prime Minister Edward Heath.

Robert said: “The investments team is one of Wesleyan’s jewels. Its long term strategy of ‘buy and hold’ has produced great results over the years and I’m excited about the challenge of continuing this success in the years ahead.

“However, we shouldn’t be afraid to look at other options and grow our portfolios as the world changes.”

Ahmed Farooq, Chief Financial Officer at Wesleyan said: “Having internal investment capability has proved extremely successful for both Wesleyan and our customers, and we remain committed to this model moving forwards.

“Everyone at Wesleyan wishes Clive well as he takes his retirement and we look forward to Robert continuing and building upon our financial strength for the benefit of our customers.”