A Malta-based investment firm has appointed a head of capital markets.

Managing Partners Group, a Malta-based asset management boutique with $500 million of assets under management, has appointed Philip Eaton Richards as head of its capital markets team as it expands its asset-backed securities business. The role is a newly-created one.

The firm is gearing up for what it expects to be “exponential growth” in the ABS market in Europe in the next five years for the SME, fintech and alternative fund management sectors, the firm said in a statement last week. 

“They [asset-backed securities] offer investors outstanding yields in the current low interest rate environment, which will persist for at least five years,” Richards said.

“They can also provide the finance for SMEs and for fund managers, who operate in an extremely competitive market and need to find new ways of attracting capital to invest,” he added.

Richards reports to Jeremy Leach, chief executive of the firm. His role is to develop MPG’s securitisation and structuring services arm.

A Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst, Richards has a range of commercial, operational and entrepreneurial experience in the fields of asset management, financial structuring and online commerce.

Malta’s Securitisation Act has been a "key factor" in the firm's decision to base itself out of the Mediterranean island, it said, given that it has access to the European Union, Commonwealth countries and countries requiring Islamic finance solutions. The firm also has a presence in Spain, Switzerland and the UK and is recognised by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority as an asset manager, where it manages a number of collective investment schemes and regulated mutual funds.