GLOBAL – The global chief investment officer of UBS Global Asset Management, Jeffrey Diermeier, is to retire.

A spokesman said there would be “no direct replacement” for Diermeier, 50, and that the move had been planned for a while. Diermeier would stay with the Swiss bank for a couple of months to help with the transition.

The firm will adopt a regional structure, the spokesman said. Tom Madsen, the head of global equities, will assume Diermeier’s role on the UBS investment committee. Brian Singer, head of asset allocation and risk management, will oversee the US. Matthew Stemp and Michael Strobeck remain in their respective roles as UK and Europe investment chiefs.

UBS Global Asset Management, the sixth largest manager of European pension fund assets, made a pre-tax profit of 29.1 million euros in the first quarter of 2003, a rise of 29%.

Earlier this week UBS GAM boosted its continental European real estate team with the recruitment of three executives from property firm Lend Lease.