Fund invests again in new talent


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The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), one of the world's biggest sovereign wealth funds, has hired Keith Collins to oversee accounting and finance.

It comes a month after ADIA appointed Ted Chu as its first chief economistas part of an initiative to make the fund more professional and improve transparency.

For years an enigma to outsiders, ADIA revealed more than ever before about its structure in its first annual review earlier this year, although it did not disclose its overall size. ADIA is estimated to control about US$500 billion (Dh1.83 trillion) of assets.

Mr Collins's role as ADIA's chief accounting officer will involve overseeing day-to-day accounting and finance, preparation of financial statements and ensuring the correct application of accounting rules.

He will also manage relationships with outside auditing firms and report to Khalifa Nasser al Mansoori, the executive director of the accounts department, ADIA said.

"Keith's expertise and valuable industry insights will enable us to further enhance and strengthen our internal processes," said Mr al Mansoori.

Mr Collins joins ADIA from Schroders, one of the world's largest asset management houses. He had previously served at Dresdner Kleinwort, an investment bank that merged into Germany's Commerzbank last year, and at NatWest Bank prior to its takeover by the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2000.

Mr Collins's position is new and consolidates roles previously shared among a number of ADIA's employees, a spokesman said.

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4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon

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50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater

1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.  

1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.

1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.

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