SWITZERLAND- Franklin Templeton Investments (FTI) has appointed Elzbieta Banz as marketing director for Switzerland in a bid to increase the size of its institutional business.

Banz will be based in Geneva with FTI Banque Fiduciary Trust, FTI’s Swiss operation, and will concentrate on developing business with multinationals across Europe.

Banz joins from Fidelity Investments in London where, as investment director for continental Europe, she was responsible for formulating and implementing the firm’s institutional marketing strategy in markets across Europe.

Previously she was head of institutional marketing for Europe at Alliance Capital during the early 1990s and, in the mid-1980s, was a founding partner of Dimensional Asset Management.

Commenting on the appointment, David Smart, executive vice president for FTI Institutional said: “Switzerland is an important market for us, and Banz will be responsible for developing our institutional business in that market. This will include the introduction of Templeton and Franklin branded products to the market.”

FTI Banque Fiduciary Trust manages e1.7bn of Swiss Pension Fund assets and was recently appointed as US Small Cap manager to the $20bn Ausgleichsfonds der Alters-und Hinterlassenversicherung, a federal social security fund in Geneva.