Lombard Odier, the Swiss private bank, has named a new CIO for Asia-Pacific.

Lombard Odier, the Swiss private bank, has named a new investment head for the Asia-Pacific region.

Jean-Louis Nakamura steps in as chief investment officer after serving as deputy CIO for Lombard Odier Investment Managers, the firm's institutional asset management arm. He has been based in Geneva until January 2014. In this new role, he reports to Vincent Duhamel, the head for Asia-Pacific. 

He takes over from Pranay Gupta, who left in November 2013 to become a global asset allocator and multi-asset portfolio manager at a Hong Kong investment management firm.

Lombard Odier has been operating in Asia for more than 25 years, with offices in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore. It also has partnerships with JBWere in Australia and KB Kookmin Bank in South Korea. In Japan, the company has tie-ups with Bank of the Ryukyus, Yamaguchi Bank, Shizuoka Bank, Momiji Bank, Chiba Bank, Kitakyushu Bank, Ibis Capital Partners, Okazaki Shinkin Bank and Kagawa Securities.

In its recently released second quarter 2014 investment strategy summary, the bank highlighted that emerging markets, where many Asian economies are classified, would experience slower growth in the year, but face no risk of a general collapse. 

As at 31 December 2013, the company records $233 billion in total clients assets through its network of 25 offices in 18 countries. Its services cover wealth management, traditional and alternative mutual funds, investment advice, estate and succession planning, family offices, trusts and foundations and financial intermediaries.