FRANCE - Pascal Voisin, chief investment officer at Crédit Agricole Asset Management, is to leave and be replaced by economic research chief Pascal Blanqué.

“Pascal Blanqué has been appointed chief investment officer at Crédit Agricole Asset Management from 1 March 2005,” the firm said in a statement. “He replaces Pascal Voisin, who has decided to take his career in another direction.” It is understood he's going to IXIS Asset Management.

Voisin, who was also deputy chief executive, was at CAAM for around 10 years and was understood to be a close colleague of CAAM chairman Thierry Coste.

Blanqué will join CAAM’s executive committee. He has been head of the economics research department and chief economist of Crédit Agricole since May 2000. He was previously at Paribas Asset Management.

“In addition to serving some of France’s most prestigious institutions, we count public and corporate pension funds and life and pension insurance companies in the Benelux and Nordic regions, Germany and Switzerland among our clients,” said Jean-Francois Pincon, head of international client development at CAAM, in an IPE supplement in January.

CAAM merged with Crédit Lyonnais Asset Management last year.

Topics