BENELUX – Roel Thijssen, Middle East and Africa chief for ABN Amro Asset Management, has quit to join Barclays Global Investors as client relationship officer for strategic accounts in the Benelux.

Thijssen, 37, is the latest in string of new appointments to BGI’s Benelux office, which was set up in 1998. He left ABN Amro AM after 13 years.

Thijssen, based in the Amsterdam office, answers to managing director and Benelux business head Marko van Bergen.

A spokesperson told IPE that Thijssen was not in charge of a team at present, as the Benelux office has just nine employees.

Further hires made to the Benelux team earlier this year have included Gerard van Leusden, formerly manager of Euronext’s Benelux institutional investor department.

He joined BGI/iShares in March as marketing and communications manager after four and a half years at Euronext.

In February, BGI also recruited former ING Private Banking assistant investment manager Kam Wei Ng. He joined the Benelux iShares business development team as business development associate.

In May, Bruce Lavine, head of Europe at BGI/iShares exchange-traded funds arm, left to join new US ETF firm WisdomTree Investments as president and chief operating officer.

He was due to join his former iShares colleague Ray DeAngelo, who joined the then Index Development Partners just under a year ago.

BGI has some $1.6tn (€1.3tn) in assets under management.