Barclays Global Investors, the fund management business of Barclays, has hired Claire Locher, a senior fund manger from Pictet, to head its ...

Barclays Global Investors, the fund management business of Barclays, has hired Claire Locher, a senior fund manger from Pictet, to head its new Swiss operations. BGI said it has set up Barclays Global Investors (Suisse) and opened an office in Geneva. Although BGI will be mostly targeting institutional clients in Switzerland, a considerable amount of private client money has entered BGI funds in recent years as tracker-like funds become increasingly attractive to both institutional and private clients. BGI’s move into Switzerland is bound to raise some concern among fund management groups there, say analysts. “BGI has been one of the most successful fund management groups in recent years and continue to take money from active managers — there is no reason to suggest the firm will not do well in Switzerland,” a London-based analyst told WealthBriefing. In a statement BGI’s chief executive Andrew Skirton said: "The range of institutional investors in the Swiss market and their increasing demand for the scientific investment solutions that BGI is famous for, now calls for a presence on the ground." He added: "It is a step which will give Swiss investors access to the full force of BGI's global investment capability."