SWITZERLAND – State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has enhanced its range of products for institutional investors, hiring a four-strong team of Swiss bond managers from Pictet & Cie.

Daniel Hannemann, who currently oversees the Swiss bond team for institutional investors at Pictet & Cie, will take over the leadership of SSgA’s Swiss bond team in January 2005.

The team will focus exclusively on developing this new offering and will apply passive and risk-controlled active strategies.

“The appointment of our new bond team will further help us to meet the needs of institutional investors in Switzerland, with a full range of strategies in all essential investment categories denominated in Swiss Francs,” said Josef Bossi, managing director at SSgA in Zurich.

“This step underscores State Street’s commitment to Switzerland as a key financial market,” he also said.

Hannemann’s team consists of Julia Bourne, Martin Oetiker and Luzius Kuster.

At Pictet Oetiker and Kuster were bond portfolio managers, responsible for institutional investors. Bourne was risk manager for the Swiss bond team.

A spokesman for Pictet & Cie told IPE the team of four would be replaced by Dominique Salamin, who will take over charge of managing Swiss bonds with the support of Micki Junge, senior asset manager.

Until April this year Salamin was managing director of the 25 billion-Swiss franc (16.7 billion-euro) social security fund Assurance Vieillesse et Survivants, or AVS.

“They both have extensive knowledge of the Swiss bond market,” the spokesman said.

He also explained the Zurich-based Swiss bond team would join the European bond team in Geneva. New synergies had been created between the two teams as the Swiss team opened up to active management, which linked it with the European team.

In Geneva, the teams are expected to work together and exchange information, the spokesman explained. Jaime Arguello heads the Geneva fixed income department.

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