L1 Group appoints finance chief

L1 Group appointed a new chief financial officer who hailed from another ASX-listed firm.

James Allaway succeeds incumbent Andrew Stannard, who will transition to an advisory role ahead of his departure in early 2027.

Allaway joins from ASX-listed FleetPartners, where he served as chief strategy officer for the past 14 months. He previously worked as an investment banker at UBS and an investment banking analyst at Citi.

Allaway is expected to commence in September and will be based in Melbourne.

L1 Group chief executive and managing director Julian Russell said Allaway's background across capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate strategy would support the firm's next phase of growth.

Russell also hailed from FleetPartners, a vehicle leasing, fleet management and employee benefits company, serving as chief executive between 2019 and 2023. After that, he was a director of M&A and corporate advisory firm Leins Capital.

Russell took over as L1 Group's chief executive from Jeff Peters, who steered the merger between L1 Capital and Platinum.

On Stannard's departure, Russell said: "Andrew has made a significant contribution to both Platinum and L1 Group. His leadership through the merger and his financial management of the business have been outstanding. On behalf of the board and management, I thank Andrew for his contribution and commitment and wish him every success."

Stannard has been finance director at Platinum Asset Management since 2015 and became finance chief at L1 Group following the merger of the two businesses.

He oversaw finance and operations at Platinum and led the integration of the merged group's finance functions.

At the end of March, L1 Group had nearly $17 billion in funds under management, reporting a 3.8% reduction in the balance during the quarter from $17.6 billion.

"Net client flows to L1 Long Short and L1 Affiliates were positive in the quarter. Net outflows in Platinum strategies, including Platinum International, have pleasingly seen a material slow-down during the March quarter ($308m) relative to the December quarter ($854)," L1 Group said.