People Moves
Ex-UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown Joins PIMCO
The investment house has created an advisory board of five renowned economic and policy figures, including the former UK prime minister.
Gordon Brown, the former UK prime minister, has joined investment management firm PIMCO.
Brown, who was prime minister of the UK from 2007 to 2010 and chancellor of the exchequer from 1997 to 2007, joins the firm as part of a five-strong global advisory board of “world-renowned experts on economic and political issues”.
The other members are former Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, who will serve as chairman of the board; Jean-Claude Trichet, former president of the European Central Bank; Ng Kok Song, former chief investment officer of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation; Anne-Marie Slaughter, current president and chief executive of think tank New America and former US Department of State policy director.
The high-level hires follow last year's departures of co-chief investment officers Bill Gross and Mohamed El-Erian. After the shock exit of “Bond King” Gross, who co-founded PIMCO in the early 1970s, the firm, which has around $1.47 trillion in assets under management, suffered record outflows of $27.5 billion from its flagship Total Return Fund in October 2014.
Gross is suing PIMCO for over $200 million for breach of contract and for conspiring to kick him out of the firm, according to reports. The firm responded by saying the case has no merit.
The new board will meet several times a year at PIMCO’s headquarters in Newport Beach, California, as well as at the firm's other offices around the world. They will contribute their economic, geopolitical, and market knowledge and insights to the firm’s investment process.
“Sharing insights on how global macroeconomic and geopolitical policy affects markets and investments is an important part of the value we bring to investors as stewards of their assets, so our clients will benefit greatly from the experience and insight the global advisory board will provide to us,” said Douglas Hodge, PIMCO’s chief executive.