GERMANY - First Private KAG, the former German institutional arm of Citigroup Asset Management, has appointed a new chief economist whose chief role will be to analyse developments on international bond and foreign exchange markets.

First Private said Richard Zellmann would join on July 1, taking the number of investment professionals to 10. Zellmann, 34, currently is in charge of capital markets analysis at Helaba Trust, the asset management arm of a publicly owned German regional bank.

First Private added that beyond acting as its chief economist, Zellmann would help further develop its institutional client base.

“We’re delighted that Richard Zellmann is going to put his renowned economic and markets expertise to use at First Private,” commented Tobias Klein, managing director at First Private.

First Private was founded in April 2003 following a management buyout of Citigroup AM’s German institutional arm that was engineered by Klein. The Frankfurt boutique, which specialises in a quantitative approach to investing, has €1.8bn in insitutional assets under management.