Peter Lucas has become investment director at Rathbone Investment Management, taking the number of investment managers to nine at the Jersey-based division of UK-listed Rathbone Brothers.

Lucas specialised in fixed income for 17 years, starting at Quilters in the 1980s before moving to Ashburton. He latterly worked for RBC Wealth Management as head of opportunistic strategy.  

“Peter’s appointment is a reflection of both ongoing client requirements and the continued expansion of our Jersey office," Jonathan Giles, managing director of Rathbone Investment Management International, said in a statement.

"I join Rathbones at a really interesting time: bond yields are high relative to cash but low relative to their range of the past 30 years, presenting investors with a real dilemma,” Lucas was quoted as saying. “Furthermore, governments are deeply in debt and central banks are engaging in some pretty unorthodox policies. There is money to be made, but only for those that are nimble and alert.”

In the first quarter of 2011, net organic growth at Rathbone Investment Management was £314 million ($505 million), an annualised growth rate of over 8 per cent, up from 3.2 per cent last year. However, when acquired inflows into the firm are added, totalling £42 million in the first quarter, it comes to 9.8 per cent, down from 11.1 per cent in 2010, the firm said in a statement in May.