Industry

Social Investment Forum Recruits Two PR Execs

MINNEAPOLIS - Sen. John McCain is the better choice for the financial services industry not for what he would do as president, but rather for what he would refrain from doing, GOP lawmakers said here this week during the Republican National Convention.

Bob Tuszynski has joined UMB Fund Services as senior vice president and director of distribution services. One of his key responsibilities is to market “Total Distribution,” which helps fund companies pinpoint their most profitable sales intermediaries through customer relationship management. UMB also offers other marketing and sales distribution support services.

PIMCO has named Mohamed El-Erian chief executive officer, a position he currently shares as co-CEO with Bill Thompson, who will be retiring at the end of the year.

Pioneer Investments has selected Brian E. Stack as manager of the Pioneer Growth Opportunities Fund. A 21-year veteran of the mutual fund industry, Stack has specialized in small- and mid-cap growth.

Scotiabank has agreed to pay $15 million to acquire a 33% interest in a new mutual fund company that is being formed under the auspices of Bank of Beijing.

The chairman of Credit Suisse Group's alternative investments business said that his unit plans an international expansion for the recently acquired Asset Management Finance Corp., using joint ventures to enter new regions and sectors.Chairman Brian Finn said that by early next year Credit Suisse needs to put some Asset Management Finance executives internationally in cities like London or Zurich and eventually in Asia, possibly in Singapore or Hong Kong.He discussed the plans in an interview last week, after the Zurich firm bought 80% of the New York investment manager from National Bank Financial of Canada for $384 million of stock.Finn said that he hopes to have some international customers for Asset Management Finance by late next year."We think that there is a big global opportunity," Finn said. "We have developed a lot of joint ventures in Latin America, China, and the Middle East, but as a general matter as we look at investment managers in the U.S., we think the next few deals will be in more-developed markets."

Credit Suisse Group announced it was acquiring a majority interest in Asset Management Finance Corp. of New York from National Bank Financial of Canada.

Citigroup plans to revamp its capital markets business under its investment-banking arm.

The chairman of South Korea's Financial Services Commission, Jun Kwang-woo, spoke out Monday about last week's reports that state-controlled Korea Development Bank was possibly interested in buying Lehman Brothers.