Richard Clarida is set to rejoin PIMCO as managing director and global economic advisor, in a similar role to the one he held in his previous 12 years at the firm.
Clarida, who is former vice-chair of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System, will rejoin the firm in October and be based in PIMCO's New York office.
Meanwhile, Joachim Fels, current managing director and global economic advisor of PIMCO, is set to retire from the firm at the end of the year after almost 40 years in the industry.
Fels joined PIMCO in 2015, and as a leader of the firm's annual secular forum, helped establish macroeconomic guardrails on how the firm approached investing over a three to five year period.
In Clarida's previous role at PIMCO from 2006 to 2018, he worked as global strategic advisor. In this new role, he will advisor PIMCO's investment committee on macroeconomic trends and events, while being supported by the firm's team of economists and macroeconomic research experts.
Clarida will also work closely with the firm's four key regional portfolio management committees: the Americas Portfolio Committee (AmPC), European Portfolio Committee (EPC), Asia-Pacific Portfolio Committee (APC) and Emerging Markets Portfolio Committee (EMPC).
Clarida is also currently professor of economics and international affairs at Columbia University, and previously worked as chief economic advisor to two US treasury secretaries as assistant secretary to the treasury for economic policy. In his role at the Federal Reserve, Clarida was criticised for trading millions of dollars the day before Fed chair Jerome Powell issued a statement on the economic response to the coronavirus pandemic in February 2020. He was later cleared of wrongdoing by the Fed's inspector general.
"PIMCO has been extremely fortunate to have these two giants in the field of economics contribute to our global macroeconomic views for nearly two decades, helping the firm frame a rapidly changing world so we can make the best investment decisions for our clients," said Dan Ivascyn, PIMCO's group CIO.
"Rich's work as architect of PIMCO's New Neutral thesis in 2014, how lower interest rates for longer would impact valuations in fixed income markets, is just one example of the invaluable insights he has provided to PIMCO clients for many years. He rejoins at another inflection point for markets and we look forward to his insights and guidance on emerging trends."
