About

Peter Bonanno joined Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI) as United States general counsel in 2012 when the firm was undergoing significant restructuring. In adapting the legal and compliance function, he challenged the existing status quo to better serve the business by overseeing a major shift from a regional service model to an integrated, global approach. One immediate challenge was reforming and modernising AllianzGI’s governance model to enable more efficient and effective operations; the size and scope of the company meant that streamlining processes and advancing their effectiveness was no easy feat. Led by Bonanno, the transformed legal and compliance model has had a lasting impact on AllianzGI’s day-to-day operations, and overall business. Its outcomes include accelerating product-to-market delivery, more nimbly meeting the demands of clients and providing increased clarity on executing business initiatives within a global framework. As AllianzGI invested steadily in the quality and breadth of its investment offerings, Bonanno has been critical to several major acquisitions. This includes the purchase of London-based global fixed income specialist and a US private credit manager. Bonanno and his team were central to negotiating these deals, along with devising and implementing integration structures which fulfilled the intentions of the transactions, successfully maintaining the integrity of both AllianzGI and the incoming businesses. These deals expanded AllianzGI’s product mix, global investment platform, geographic reach, and enhanced client offerings. Promoted to global general counsel in 2016, only four years after joining AllianzGI from Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Bonanno has consistently impressed at the company due to his excellent legal and commercial mind and rigid adherence to the company’s principles. A nominating source remarked that ‘Peter Bonanno combines a keen legal mind with a strong business sense and leadership skills. He has done a terrific job of developing and refining a highly functioning and skilled legal and compliance department within a complex, global asset management firm with numerous offices, products, portfolio management teams and distribution channels spanning many jurisdictions and time zones. He stands out for his ability to address complicated legal and regulatory matters in a thoughtful and measured way to achieve solutions that move the business forward while keeping with the firm’s high fiduciary and compliance standards’.