Executive Moves

Bullion Heads Payden's New Boston Office

Payden & Rygel has opened its first office on the East Coast, selecting Boston's Financial District.

Heading the office is Justin Bullion, a 20-year veteran of the financial services industry, the past dozen years at Wellington Management. Before that, Bullion was with Miller Anderson & Sherred LLP and BlackRock Financial Management.

"The opening of our Boston office and Justin's hiring are exciting developments for our firm and mark a natural expansion for us," said Joan Payden, founder and CEO of Payden & Rygel.

"We have been consistently growing our client base on the East Coast and overseas. A presence in Boston will allow us to better serve our clients. We are very fortunate to have Justin leading our effort, given his experience in investments and providing advice to clients and their consultants," Payden said.

The firm offers a wide array of fixed income and equity mutual funds, separate accounts and UCITS 3 in the U.S. and abroad. In Europe, the firm has a partnership with Germany's oldest bank, Metzler Bank.

Commenting on his new role, Bullion said: "The culture and independence of Payden & Rygel are unique in this industry. I'm excited and fortunate to be a part of it. Our offerings stand out. We have a great opportunity to continue to grow our global expansion.

"Our Boston team looks forward to hosting as well as visiting our clients, and plans to be a conduit between our very successful London office and our Los Angeles headquarters," he added.

First Republic Hires Portfolio Veteran Fletcher

First Republic Bank is hiring in a bid to expand its wealth management operation.

The company announced that Jim Fletcher, a portfolio manager with more than 25 years of experience, has joined First Republic Private Wealth Management in Newport Beach, Calif.

Fletcher will work with clients to provide customized equity and fixed-income investment management, First Republic said. A customized client portfolio utilizes traditional portfolio management and may include outside managers for equity, fixed-income and alternative investments.

Before joining First Republic, Fletcher was first vice president and senior director of portfolio management at Bank of New York Mellon in Newport Beach.

First Republic had been independent until Merrill Lynch bought it in 2007 for $1.7 billion. Merrill agreed that it would operate as a stand-alone brand and would retain its name, its management, its headquarters and its client and community focus. But the Merrill-First Republic marriage did not last long. When Bank of America Corp. scooped up Merrill, First Republic was part of the acquisition.

Then as speculation mounted about how BoA A would raise much-needed capital to pay the government back for its bailout funds, BoA announced in October 2009 that it would sell First Republic to Colony Capital and General Atlantic, two private-equity firms, and a group of other investors, including the bank's chairman, James H. Herbert, and chief operating officer, Katherine August-deWilde. The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter, has allowed the bank to make its own moves again.

First Republic has preferred banking and/or wealth management offices in San Francisco; Los Angeles; Santa Barbara, Calif.; Newport Beach; San Diego; Portland, Ore.; Seattle; Boston; Greenwich, Conn.; and New York.

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