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JPMorgan Bolsters Hedge Fund Team in Asset Management With Hires

JPMorgan Bolsters Hedge Fund Team in Asset Management With Hires

(Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. is broadening its team that offers hedge fund investments in a bet that volatility will help spur more allocations to the industry.

The bank’s asset management unit hired Lynnette Ferguson to lead hedge fund solutions for its investment specialist team in the Americas and promoted London-based Karim Leguel to be international head of the team, according to a statement Monday. Both will report to Jamie Kramer, head of JPMorgan’s alternative solutions group.

JPMorgan is expanding a team to help investors access strategies that focus on private credit, quantitative methods, sustainability and long-short investing. The tweaks come as investors increase their allocations to hedge funds and pour more money into the market for private credit in search of higher yields.

JPMorgan advises clients on more than $17 billion in hedge fund assets, part of an alternatives group with more than $130 billion under management. It’s among banks seeking to help clients such as wealthy individuals, pension funds and retail investors diversify their portfolios from traditional stocks and bonds.

“In the face of the long-in-the-tooth economic expansion, the threats of a global trade war and the return of equity volatility, investors are significantly increasing their target allocations to hedge funds,” Kramer said in the statement.

The bank also hired Lyn Ngooi from APS Asset Management to lead the team in the Asia-Pacific region.

To contact the reporters on this story: Michelle F. Davis in New York at mdavis194@bloomberg.net;Sonali Basak in New York at sbasak7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Josh Friedman, Steven Crabill

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