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James Harkness, P.eng
Senior Director, Client Consulting
James is a Senior Director at bfinance Canada, focusing on business development and client relationships with institutional investors. He has more than 25 years of experience across financial technology, data analytics and investment management.
Prior to joining bfinance, James held senior roles at Altus Group, Juniper Square and MSCI, advising institutional clients on performance analytics, valuations and data solutions. He began his career in technology and financial services, having worked at Fidelity National Information Services and BMO.
James holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from Queen's University.
More insights from the team:
AI, hyperscalers and corporate bond indices: signal or narrative?
We ask what record hyperscaler issuance means for investment-grade benchmarks, and where it matters for investors.
Tsao: building a credible impact equity allocation
Impact investing in listed equities is often treated as the hard case compared with private markets. Critics argue that buying shares in the secondary market creates little...
Platform complexity: what still earns its place for wealth managers?
A wealth firm can apply rigorous governance to every investment, fund or strategy that it offers and still, over time, end up with a platform that no one would deliberately build today.
CLO debt: Solvency II changes the capital equation for insurers
A bfinance poll of EU insurers points to a material increase in CLO debt allocations through 2027.
Navigating semi-liquid private markets in a world of closed-end data
Investors considering today’s expanded landscape of semi-liquid or evergreen vehicles for private market investing face a key challenge.
Portfolio resilience: rethinking the foundations
The ground beneath the idea of portfolio resilience has shifted in the ‘turbulent twenties’ – how can allocators adjust?
Private credit and the asset allocation challenge
Increasingly, asset allocation models are treating Private Credit as a strategic asset class with its own clearly defined profile, rather than an implementation solution within a fixed income or...
bfinance Platform: real assets, UK open-ended property funds in five charts
M&A activity, such as the recent news of the combination of the Columbia Threadneedle and PATRIZIA UK property funds fits a neat narrative.
Wim Boekema
Director, Client Consulting
Wim Boekema is Director Client Consulting at bfinance, strengthening the firm's presence in the Netherlands. He brings more than 15 years of experience in institutional markets, including long-standing relationships with pension funds and insurers. Wim returns to financial markets after spending the past five years building his own business. He previously worked at Fortis, Lehman Brothers and Barclays, and most recently at Jefferies, where he opened the firm's office in the Netherlands and served institutional investors, including several large pension funds and insurers. Wim studied Finance & Investments at Erasmus University Rotterdam, with an exchange period at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea.
More insights from the team:
AI, hyperscalers and corporate bond indices: signal or narrative?
We ask what record hyperscaler issuance means for investment-grade benchmarks, and where it matters for investors.
Tsao: building a credible impact equity allocation
Impact investing in listed equities is often treated as the hard case compared with private markets. Critics argue that buying shares in the secondary market creates little...
Platform complexity: what still earns its place for wealth managers?
A wealth firm can apply rigorous governance to every investment, fund or strategy that it offers and still, over time, end up with a platform that no one would deliberately build today.
CLO debt: Solvency II changes the capital equation for insurers
A bfinance poll of EU insurers points to a material increase in CLO debt allocations through 2027.
Navigating semi-liquid private markets in a world of closed-end data
Investors considering today’s expanded landscape of semi-liquid or evergreen vehicles for private market investing face a key challenge.
Portfolio resilience: rethinking the foundations
The ground beneath the idea of portfolio resilience has shifted in the ‘turbulent twenties’ – how can allocators adjust?
Private credit and the asset allocation challenge
Increasingly, asset allocation models are treating Private Credit as a strategic asset class with its own clearly defined profile, rather than an implementation solution within a fixed income or...
bfinance Platform: real assets, UK open-ended property funds in five charts
M&A activity, such as the recent news of the combination of the Columbia Threadneedle and PATRIZIA UK property funds fits a neat narrative.
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