Fiera Capital, a global asset manager with $115bn under management, has announced the opening of its first office in Switzerland alongside the appointment of distribution leader Alain Meyer as managing director, head of Intermediaries EMEA and Head of DACH.
Certain activities to be conducted from the office are subject to regulatory approval by FINMA, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority.
Based in Zurich, the office will serve as the primary hub for Fiera Capital’s intermediaries business in the EMEA region, and institutional clients in the DACH region, reflecting the company’s commitment to the markets in these regions.
Establishing a dedicated local presence will enable Fiera Capital to develop and further refine its customised offerings for new and existing institutional and private clients in the regions, it said in a statement on 21 February.
Commenting on the addition of Switzerland to the Company’s European footprint, which includes London and Frankfurt, Klaus Schuster, executive director and CEO, Fiera Capital EMEA, said: “Given its status as one of the world’s most important wealth centres, Switzerland was a natural next step in our growth story.
"We have both the capability and the breadth of offering necessary to capitalise on the financial innovation the country is known for and create long-term value through deeper access to investable opportunities across the continent. Having boots on the ground enables us to deliver the first-class service our clients already know us for, while introducing a highly differentiated approach to a region that we understand well.”
Fiera Capital’s Swiss office will be led by DACH expert and industry veteran Alain Meyer. With over 20 years in Business Development with a principal focus on Switzerland, Meyer and his team will notably be responsible for the strategic growth of the company’s institutional and intermediaries business in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, as well as cultivating and growing relationships with family offices, private banks, wealth and asset managers and large IFA platforms across Europe.
Meyer joined the Company from PineBridge Investments, where he served as managing director and country head for Switzerland & Austria and head of intermediary distribution, Europe for seven years.
Prior to that, Meyer oversaw institutional sales at Aviva Investors.
Meyer has been appointed to the EMEA Senior Management Team and is set to expand his own team within the year, reflecting the Company’s forward growth strategy and to provide tailored investment solutions that meet the unique and evolving preferences of investors in the EMEA and DACH regions.
Product spotlights include global, US, emerging and frontier markets equities on the public side, as well as a broad array of products in the private market strategies, including infrastructure, real estate and commercial real estate debt, agriculture, timberland and private credit. Fiera Capital’s OAKS EM Equity Select strategy, which marked its three-year track record in January, is a standout having outperformed 99% of its peers since its inception according to Bloomberg data.
Founded in 2003 by Chairman of the Board and Global Chief Executive Officer Jean-Guy Desjardins and headquartered in Montreal, Fiera Capital is one of the largest asset managers in Canada, with offices in North America, Europe and Asia. The growth of the Company’s global footprint follows recent appointments of CEOs for EMEA (Klaus Schuster), US (Eric Roberts) and Canada (Maxime Ménard), rebooting Fiera Capital’s regionalised distribution model.
Fiera Capital Corporation (“Fiera Capital”) is a leading independent asset management firm with a growing global presence. The Company delivers customized and multi-asset solutions across public and private market asset classes to institutional, financial intermediary and private wealth clients across North America, Europe and key markets in Asia.
