FRANCE- BNP Paribas Asset Management has hired Philippe Lespinard as its first global chief investment officer. He will be responsible for the research and active management activities of BNP Paribas AM in equity, fixed income and balanced accounts worldwide.

Based in Paris, he will report to Gilles Glicenstein, chief executive officer of BNP Paribas AM. Lespinard, 38, joins from Citigroup Asset Management in London where he was co-head of fixed income globally since 1998 and head of European investments since 2000.

Prior to Citigroup he was a senior portfolio manager and partner at Fischer Francis Trees & Watts, a specialist fixed-income manager now affiliated with BNP PAM.

Glicenstein said: "our ambition is to establish BNP Paribas Asset Management as a leading institutional manager, its investment processes meeting the highest international standards. Philippe Lespinard's arrival is a clear step toward this goal. "