Schroders has bolstered its FUM Multi-Asset business with the addition of Aymeric Forest to its existing 60-strong team of multi-asset fund managers.

Forest joins from BBVA Wholesale Banking & Asset Management, where he had been based in Madrid as global head of global investment solutions, overseeing €14 billion (around $20 billion) in assets under management. Before joining BBVA he was based in London as head of tactical asset allocation quantitative strategies at Fortis Investments within BNP Paribas Investment Partners.

In his new fund management role Forest will join Schroders' global asset allocation committee, which is responsible for setting asset allocation policy across the firm’s multi-asset portfolios. Focusing predominantly on complex segregated mandates, Forest will report to Johanna Kyrklund, head of multi-asset investments.

“Our multi-asset business has grown rapidly over the past five years and we are keen to build on this momentum. We are in the process of deepening our multi-asset research capabilities and Aymeric will be a key contributor to this,” Kyrklund said in a statement.

In other recent development, earlier this week Schroders appointed Kate Jones as head of investment services, a role in which she will take charge of the development of its latest global investment operating platform, reporting to Alan Brown, the firm’s chief investment officer.

Jones, formerly head of structured solutions portfolio management at BlackRock, is a structured solutions specialist. In her previous role she was accountable for the portfolio management of liability-driven investment, asset allocation mandates and synthetic overlays.

Schroders said in a statement that Jones’s appointment will further the expansion of its multi-asset, fixed income and liability-driven investment businesses.  “Kate’s fund management background in liability-driven investment, asset allocation and structured solutions leaves her very well placed to lead this development for Schroders,” said Brown.