Geneva-based Argos Investment Managers moves closer to British expansion with a new hire to head the UK business.

Geneva-based Argos Investment Managers moves closer to British expansion with a new hire to head the UK business.

Former investment banker and asset manager Nick Hamwee joins the firm to head its Argos UK wing in London, the firm said in a statement.

The hire comes a week after Argos announced its plans to set up shop in the UK in a move to what chief executive Jean Keller called “the centre of the investment management world” (see here).

Hamwee has been in the industry for 25 years, specialising in building businesses both at home and abroad. He leaves his post of co-head of CSFB’s US Cash Equity business in Europe, where he helped increase the firm’s market share on the continent.

He previously worked for Sanford Bernstein in New York, and started his professional relationship with Keller when they worked together at Lombard Odier in London in the early 1990s.

Still needing to find an office and register its funds, Argos UK aims to build a boutique asset manager in London.