GAM said it is strengthening its compliance department by hiring the U.K. regulator's former head of funds. The move leads to a prominent exit at the Swiss asset manager.
GAM has hired British lawyer Natalie Baylis as its head of compliance, effective in June, the Zurich-based asset manager said in a statement. Baylis has spent the last five years with Britain's Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA, as the chief lawyer for markets, wholesale, funds and prudential regulation.
Her role represents a beefing-up of compliance at GAM, the Swiss firm said. «The newly-created role of the group head of compliance underlines the importance of this function to the group,» Chief Executive Alex Friedman said.
Abrupt Exit
It also leads to the immediate exit of Swiss lawyer Dirk Spiegel, who has been GAM's chief counsel and a member of top management since February 2017. The firm's chief U.S. lawyer, Kenneth Dursht, will replace Spiegel until a successor has been named.
Before joining the FCA in 2006, Baylis was a lawyer specialized in commercial law for ten years. She holds a post-graduate degree in law from City University in London as well as a master’s in French and Spanish from Edinburgh University.
