Franklin Templeton names next CIO of fixed-income group

Sonal Desai will soon take over as chief investment officer of Franklin Templeton (BEN) Investments (BEN)' fixed-income group, the money manager announced Wednesday.

The move is effective Dec. 31. She will take over for Chris Molumphy, who is retiring at the end of the year. He has been with Franklin Templeton for 30 years and served as chief investment officer of the firm's fixed-income group since 2000. Ms. Desai will also replace Mr. Molumphy on Franklin Templeton's executive committee.

Ms. Desai will oversee the firm's corporate credit, emerging markets debt, bank loan, global aggregate, securitized, money market, multisector, municipal and local fixed-income strategies and teams, which manage a total of $157 billion in assets, according to a news release.

She joined the firm in 2009 as director of research for Templeton Global Macro. In this role, she has worked closely with Michael Hasenstab, CIO of Templeton Global Macro, in leading the team's research agenda, focusing on regional and country-specific macroeconomic analysis, as well as valuation modeling of interest rates, exchange rates and credit risks across local and hard currency debt markets, according to Franklin Templeton.

Ms. Desai will bring "tremendous thought leadership and well-rounded expertise" to the role, said Jenny Johnson, president and chief operating officer of Franklin Templeton, in a statement. "We are extremely fortunate to have such an accomplished leader ready to take the helm when Chris retires."

When Ms. Desai moves into her new role, Calvin Ho will take her place as director of research for Templeton Global Macro, and he will assume portfolio management responsibilities for a number of Templeton Global Macro strategies, reporting directly to Mr. Hasenstab.