SWITZERLAND - Invesco has named Marcel Salzmann, a former manager at rival UBS Global Asset Management, as its new head of Switzerland.

It said Salzmann is tasked with developing its institutional business in Switzerland. At UBS, the 37-year-old was institutional client relationship manager and led the house’s multi-manager investment programme.

“Marcel Salzmann’s appointment as head of Switzerland is a clear indication that we will do our utmost to expand our institutional business there,” commented Patrick Rivière, Invesco’s head of European institutional business.

In Switzerland, Invesco currently has €172m in institutional assets under management.

In Germany, Invesco has yet to fill a vacancy left by Rainer Schröder. Schröder stepped down as Invesco’s German institutional business head last month to join Threadneedle Investments as the latter’s new German head.

Rivière has, in the meantime, been in charge of the German institutional business, which has taken in €4.3bn from investors. Invesco is part of the Amvescap group, which has $373bn in assets under management worldwide.

Separately, Germany’s Cominvest said it had appointed Bastian Schmidt as its new director of relations with investment consultants in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Beyond dealing with the consultants, Cominvest said Schmidt would help “expand cross-border activities” for the asset manager.

Schmidt, 36, joins Cominvest from SEB Invest, a German asset manager that belongs to the Swedish bank SEB. Schmidt’s last job at SEB Invest was institutional sales director.

Earlier this month, Commerzbank, Cominvest’s parent, said first-half earnings at its entire asset management division tumbled 45% to €54m amid a steep rise in operating costs.

The steep profit decline was accompanied by €219m in investor outflows at Cominvest, whose institutional assets under management total €29bn. Cominvest is, however, still confident that it will have €700m in net inflows to its funds for all of 2005.


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