As COO of Universal Investment, Rougier will be responsible for the company’s overall growth strategy, noted the press release.  This includes improving customer onboarding, account maintenance and accounting, as well as boosting Universal Investment’s subsidiaries in Luxembourg. In his new role, Rougier will be responsible for technology, operations and change management.

“We are delighted to have Etienne on board,” said Michael Reinhard, CEO of Universal Investment. “His international perspective will help us take our operations in Europe to the next level and support our planned office openings in North America and Asia. In Luxembourg, Etienne will contribute to the further integration of our latest acquisition EFA--European Fund Administration.”

Rougier is joining the company from Alliance Bernstein, where he spent almost 10 years in various management roles, including head of EMEA and Asia insurance. Previously, he worked at Axa Investment Managers and set up the multi-manager boutique Architas, an asset management firm for Axa Group.

Universal Investment Group, which is a platform for asset managers and institutional investors that offers structuring, administration solutions and risk management, has €972bn in assets under administration. It has approximately 2,000 fund and investment mandates and more than 1,700 staff members in Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Dublin, London, Paris, Hamburg and Krakow.