In his new role Clark will be responsible for leading the firm’s global sales, marketing and business development activity; this will cover all retail and institutional products, Standard Life Investments said in a statement.

Prior to the appointment Clark was a firm’s non-executive director for over five years. He has also worked at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and Mercury Asset Management.

“Standard Life Investments has grown very rapidly since its inception in 1998, moving from a UK orientated business to one with truly global ambitions. We have already made great strides towards this with over 80 per cent of our £5.7 billion 2009 net third party sales coming from outside the UK,” said Keith Skeoch, the chief executive Standard Life Investments.

In other recent developments, last week Standard Life Investments said it intends to offer a wider range of alternative investments through the acquisition of a major stake in Aida Capital, a London-based fund of hedge fund manager.