Friday, 5th September 2008

 

22 July 2008 - Stephanie Baum in New York

JP Morgan veteran joins Swiss fund of hedge funds

The US subsidiary of EIM, the $15bn (€9.4bn) Swiss fund of hedge funds, has tapped a 15-year JP Morgan veteran for a new role to oversee risk management in line with an expansion of its US business as companies ramp up controls following the market downturn.

Paulo Peres will be responsible for risk and portfolio risk management issues such as counterparty risk. He will report to the board of EIM USA.

EIM's US branch is handling an increasing number of portfolios since it launched the investment management business in New York nine years ago.

Antonio Munoz, the chief executive of EIM USA, said: “[Peres] served on the front lines of one of the world’s largest financial institutions. He understands how hedge fund risks of all kinds impact counterparties, including institutions like ours."

A source close to EIM said the US office will continue to coordinate its activities with its head office in Geneva. It will work closely with the fund of hedge funds risk management team in Europe on analytics and the risk methodology.

Peres has worked as executive director in the hedge funds and financial institutions credit groups since July 2005. He was also responsible for margining rules and stress testing development for hedge funds.

EIM USA manages about $1.5bn in assets for public and private pension funds, endowments and family offices.

More companies are ramping up their risk management to create an added layer of counter-party protection.

Last month, Ramius Capital hired a risk manager from fund of hedge funds Arden Asset Management for its fund of hedge funds team.

Hedge fund managers have been hard hit by the credit crunch with the industry seeing its worst overall first half performance in 18 years, according to data provider Hedge Fund Research's composite index.

Fund of hedge funds have traditionally been insulated from substantial declines in performance because of their strategy of investing in multiple hedge funds, making them popular with public pension funds.

The credit crunch has had an impact even on this strategy with HFR fund of hedge funds composite index posting a decline of 2.54% for the half year.

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