GLOBAL - Credit Suisse has named Morgan Stanley’s Alex Abadie as head of product development and management for asset management.

“He will be responsible for managing all product development, product management, and marketing efforts for Credit Suisse's asset management business globally,” the Swiss bank said.

Abadie will be a member of CSAM’s management committee. He’ll be based in London and report to CSAM chief executive David Blumer.

“His experience in working with clients who face asset/liability matching challenges, and in structuring new products that meet clients' particular financial and investment needs, will be a significant asset to our business," said Blumer.

Abadie was former head of Morgan Stanley’s financial institutions global capital markets group, Credit Suisse said.

He said: "This will be a great opportunity to work with some of the most capable people in the industry at a very exciting time in Credit Suisse's development as a global provider of investment solutions."

Earlier this month Credit Suisse said it was seeing “notable” interest in commodities from UK pension funds.

"Commodities can provide valuable diversification for institutional investors who can benefit from the historically low correlation that commodity returns have shown compared to the returns of stocks and bonds. It may also be a very useful inflation hedge,” said Terry Mellish, director of UK institutional sales.

"As institutional investors become more aware of these benefits, we have seen notable interest in the asset class from UK pension funds through our own commodity funds, and expect this to continue throughout 2006."