Andrew Harmstone, managing director and senior portfolio manager for Morgan Stanley Investment Management's global balanced risk control business, relocated to Singapore from London to build out the team there and in the broader Asian region.
Mr. Harmstone said in a news release that local presence will give the balanced risk team — which analyzes "potential event risks that could affect broad market volatility, and the tactical preferences between regions or subasset classes" — a more nuanced view of regional geopolitics in Asia.
A spokeswoman for the firm said the balanced risk team, formed in 2008, has built a book of business that stood at $17.3 billion as of Dec. 31 from its base in London. That total is composed of $11 billion in institutional separately managed accounts, with the remainder in pooled vehicles.
The balanced risk team in Singapore currently has two members, including Mr. Harmstone. The spokeswoman declined to estimate how big the Asia-based team could become.
