Invesco Asset Management, part of the investment management firm Invesco, has strengthened its Middle East team with the appointment of Nicki Hayden, to be based in Henley.

Hayden latterly worked for Invesco UK’s retail sales team, where her role included responsibility for developing relationships within the UK discretionary and IFA marketplace. She has 18 years of experience in the life, pensions and investment arena. She also spent a large part of her career at Zurich Financial Services.

In her new role as retail account manager, Hayden will report to Katie Saha, associate director of international third party distribution. She will work alongside Saha to develop Invesco's international life company relationships, both at head office level and in key sales regions in the Far East, Middle East and parts of Europe, the firm said in a statement.

“We are seeing an important shift in the retail value chain as the use of life wrapped products by distributors increases, particularly in the Middle East and Far East regions. One of the key challenges the industry faces is that, as the value chain gets wider, providers risk becoming further removed from the end-investor,” said Saha.

"In an environment where risk aversion and challenges over asset persistency prevail, it is therefore imperative that we can collaborate with our distribution partners to improve our on-going dialogue, whether that is by providing generic investment training, or more focused product messaging which they can in turn share with their professional client base."

Invesco opened its Dubai-based Middle East operations in September 2005.