Zenith appoints former Perpetual adviser

In a statement, Zenith said that Mr Damicoucas had been appointed to the role of associate investment analyst, where he will conduct fund manager research.

He joins the research house after nine months at Perpetual. Before that, he was an adviser for Wattle Partners Private Wealth managers.

Mr Damicoucas will report to head of multi-asset and Australian fixed income Andrew Yap, who said he was “delighted to have James join Zenith and help build our research capability as we rate an expanding list of products in the income space”.

“James brings to Zenith a unique skill set that combines investment research and first-hand knowledge of the research needs of our financial planning clients,” Mr Yap said.

According to the statement, this is the third financial adviser Zenith have hired as a research analyst since 2017.

Mr Yap added, “While Zenith recruits research staff from a range of industry backgrounds, our analysts with financial planning experience are able to provide unique insights to our team from the adviser’s perspective, which we can incorporate into our offering to ensure it maximises the benefits for our financial advice clients.”