South Africa's Foord Asset Management has opened a branch in Zurich, research by finews.ch showed. It put a former Credit Suisse banker in charge.
Foord Asset Management has opened an office at Heinrichstrasse 267 in Zurich and put Benjamin Huegli in charge. The 33-year-old lawyer currently is the sole representative of Foord in Switzerland.
«We applied for a sales license with Finma at the end of last year,» Huegli told finews.ch. «We expect it to be approved shortly.»
Close to the Customer
Before joining Foord, Huegli worked as vice president with global external asset managers at Credit Suisse, leaving in September 2014. At the beginning of 2015, Huegli was appointed CEO of Foord Asset Management Switzerland.
Foord chose Zurich for its latest branch due to the regulatory environment and the attractive financial market, Huegli said. The company wants to be as close to its customers as possible. «A fly-in-fly-out strategy was no option,» the manager said.
Branches in Europe, Asia, South Africa
Foord also has branches in London, Singapore and Cape Town, where its headquarters are located. The fund managers are based in Cape Town and Singapore. The company may well establish its fund research in Zurich, should business in Europe develop to the satisfaction of Foord, Huegli said.
Foord, largely unknown in Switzerland, claims the third spot in its home market after Coronation and Allan Gray, managing a total of $12 billion with a global workforce of 57.
Warren Buffet of South Africa
Dave Foord (pictured left) founded the company in 1981. The native of Zimbabwe is an admirer of Warren Buffett and has gained a similar reputation in South Africa. The asset manager has three international and six South African funds in its portfolio. To begin with, it will make the Foord International Fund and the Foord Global Equity Fund available in Switzerland.
