Bloomberg, the global financial information company, has become a major supporter of the Chief Investment Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the year awards, which recently called for nominations from Australian fiduciary funds.

Bloomberg has become a silver sponsor alongside Affiliated Managers Group, JP Morgan and Commonwealth Bank. The gold sponsor is National Australia Bank. Other supporters are: Northern Trust, PwC, KPMG, Ernst & Young and Financial Services Council.

The awards, which are organized by fixed interest fund manager La Trobe Financial* and which carry a cash prize of $10,000 each, culminate in a function which will be held in Melbourne on May 7, 2013.

Chosen by a panel of experts after analyses of employer submissions, the awards aim to not only recognise excellence among the investment management and staff of funds but also to help in the further education and development of professionals working in the superannuation industry.

The call for submissions, announced in December, notes that the two categories encompass chief investment officers, general managers – investments, executive heads of investment committees as well as the operational heads of investments such as chief financial officers, general managers – operations and others in charge of implementation of investment decisions.

Last year’s winners were: Steve Merlicek, the CIO of IOOF, and Stephen Rowbottom, the COO of HostPlus.

As with last year’s ceremony, the master of ceremonies and presenter for this year’s awards will be John Brogden, chief executive of the Financial Services Council.

Information: http://www.ciocooawards.com.au

 *Disclosure: the author is a non-executive director of La Trobe Financial.