London-based Investment management firm Baring Asset Management appointed Roberto Lampl to the newly-created role of head of Latin America equity.

The position has been created to further expand and strengthen Barings’ emerging markets investment capability, the firm said in a statement.

Mr Lampl, who is based in the UK, started in his new role yesterday and reports directly to Tim Scholefield, head of equities.

Mr Lampl was latterly with ING Investment Management, where he was a senior investment manager. Overall, he has 12 years of experience of investing in Latin American markets.

As of 31 January 2010, Barings has £27.9 billion ($42.3 billion) of assets under management, of which £11.6 billion is emerging markets focused; £1.1 billion of this is in Latin America equities.

Mr Scholefield said that Mr Lampl has “an outstanding investment record in Latin America equity and we are excited that he will be using that experience to support Barings’ growth in this region.”

“Latin America equity offers a compelling long term investment case and we believe should be considered by investors, alongside other emerging markets opportunities, when looking for growth and a diversified portfolio,” Mr Scholefield said.