Standish Mellon Asset Management, the London-based fixed income business owned by BNY Mellon Asset Management, has expanded its investment team with the appointment of Tom Higgins as global macro strategist and Rebecca Braeu as macroeconomic analyst and portfolio manager for its global fixed income team.

Reporting to David Leduc, the firm’s chief investment officer, Higgins will assist the fixed income investment team in capitalising on macroeconomic trends. He joins from Payden & Rygel, where he served as chief economist, responsible for developing the firm's view on the global economy and leading a team of economists. In his prior career he was managing director of Geoffrey Bell & Company.

Braeu will sit within the global team, identifying and monitoring global markets’ macroeconomic trends, assessing how they affect the firm’s investment strategies. She was formerly an economist and emerging market strategist at MFC Global Investment Management and she has also served as an assistant professor of economics at California State University.

"The addition of Tom Higgins and Rebecca Braeu add further strength to our global macroeconomic research platform and provide additional depth for our investment team at a time of rapid growth," Desmond MacIntyre, president and CEO of Standish, said in a statement. 

Standish has seen its assets under management increase by 27 per cent over the year to 30 September 2010 and they now total $79 billion.

"Our global fixed income strategies continue to attract assets as investors' demonstrate an increasing appetite for attractive investments around the world. In particular, there has been a significant increase in interest in emerging market local currency debt,” MacIntyre continued.

"Also, US-based institutions are increasing their allocations to liability driven investment strategies, and we're seeing a growing number of non-US institutions investing in high yield and high income securities issued in the US."