Dexia Asset Management has begun reorganising its management team at the end of an unfortunate year.

Hugo Lasat and Naïm Abou- Jaoudé have been appointed president and vice president respectively of Dexia Asset Management’s executive committee.

As chairman, Mr Lasat replaces Mr Abou- Jaoudé, who was previously head of the commitee. Mr Abou- Jaoudé has also been head of alternative management at Dexia Asset Management for two years, a role he maintains.

Mr Lasat was president of the executive committee on one previous occasion, from September 2001 to December 2005. In January 2006 he took over as head of private client services, retail and private banking and asset management services.

The company has suffered a decline in assets from €110 billion at the end of 2007 to €93.7 billion at the end of 2008. Mr Lasat is planning to reorganise the firm's fund management process, aiming to offer greater transparency to clients, according to French business paper, L'Agefi.

Dexia bank has fared badly in the current financial crisis. The bank has encountered problems supporting its US bond insurer FSA, which suffered heavily from exposure to the US mortgage market.

The bank secured a $9.2 billion dollar bailout from the French, Belgian and Luxembourger governments in September 2008.

In the same month, Dexia opted to sell FSA and undertake a transformation plan.

This involved a reduction in risk profile through a decrease in trading activities and the run-off of bond portfolios to improve its liquidity situation; a refocus on clients in public, retail and commercial banking in core markets and, of course, the reorganisation of the management team.

September additions to the team included Stefaan Decraene, chairman of Dexia Bank Belgium, and Philippe Rucheton of the Newedge Group.