In an effort to expand its focus on risk management, New York-based asset manager Beck, Mack & Oliver is about to hire a director of fixed income investing, the first in the firm’s 79-year history.

“Our focus is to generate high risk-adjusted rates of return, and we feel this will be a big step to help us achieve that goal,” said Robert Hausler, managing director for the firm.

The official announcement will be made next month, Hausler said.

In an environment where clients are preoccupied with risk, Beck, Mack & Oliver found an increasing use of “smart, tactical deployment of taxable fixed income in client’s portfolios,” said Zachary Wydra, a partner in the firm.

Indeed, despite  recent gains in the market, high net worth investors continue to be risk averse, according to Hausler.

“Risk aversion is still firmly in everyone’s mind, especially those scarred by losses in net worth and retirement planning,” he said. “There is still nervousness.”

Beck, Mack & Oliver has $3.8 billion in assets under management, and an average client has $3 million to $5 million invested in the firm, Hausler said.

The firm is best known for its global equity and US equity funds. Last year it acquired Austin Investment Management, a New York asset manager and pioneer global investor.

Both high net worth individuals and wealth managers have been increasingly attracted to a global investing approach, Hausler said.

“As managers are rethinking traditional style-box portfolio construction, they are using global more as part of their core, alpha or alternative holdings,” he said. “It increases the odds of managing risk better.”