Horizon Cash Management LLC has appointed Danielle Blount as portfolio analyst. Blount has previously worked for Goldman Sachs and as a fixed income analyst for Citadel Investment Group and Bank of America in Chicago. Blount will work with the portfolio management team and be responsible for portfolio credit research. In this capacity, she will seek to identify both opportunities and potential trouble spots in the fixed income marketplace before they become industry knowledge. This ‘early detection’ analysis aims to add value to Horizon’s portfolio managers. “It is increasingly clear that volatility in the market is driven equally by economic, political and regulatory metrics that require careful monitoring and evaluation,” said Jill King, partner, senior vice president and senior portfolio manager at Horizon. “Danielle brings substantial technical and fundamental analysis to Horizon. Her experience examining complicated products and structures adds great depth to our analytical capabilities and will help Horizon and its clients to pinpoint investing opportunities in the current low-interest rate environment.”

Lyxor Asset Management have appointed Lionel Paquin as Managing Director, replacing Stéphane Enguehard, who is now Managing Director – Head of FoHFs development for Lyxor. Laurent Seyer, CEO, said: “Lionel’s outstanding know-how and experience will be central in accelerating the transformation initiated by Stéphane and in putting still more emphasis on responding to and anticipating investors' needs.” Paquin has been working within the Société Générale Group since 2004. Chief Risk Officer since 2007, Lionel is a member of the Lyxor Management Committee and Executive Committee.

Kinetic Partners has appointed Ciara O’Sullivan and Leon Stafford to their regulatory compliance and consulting team based in Dublin. O’Sullivan has over 15 years of experience in the industry. She joins Kinetic from a compliance consultant role with a large US investment manager in Dublin. Prior to this O’Sullivan worked with Brown Brothers Harriman in a number of roles, including European Compliance Officer, head of the Trustee Group and chairperson of their Market Initiative Group. O’Sullivan is currently an author and lecturer on Irish funds industry regulatory educational courses. Stafford previously worked for Pioneer in Dublin where he held a compliance role and was responsible for monitoring group compliance, with a particular emphasis on trading, investment and code of conduct compliance. His 10 years' experience in the field also includes compliance positions with the Financial Regulator (now Central Bank of Ireland) as well as with PFPC International Limited (now PNC), and International Fund Managers (Ireland) Limited. “We are delighted to be welcoming Leon and Ciara on board given their wide-ranging experience in the Irish regulatory marketplace,” Kinetic member, Killian Buckley, said. “They will be highly valuable additions to the team at a time when firms are facing ever increasing scrutiny of their regulation and compliance practices, and investors and regulators are demanding ever higher standards.”

William Hunt has joined the board of directors of Multifonds, a single-platform multi-jurisdictional investment fund software provider. He was previously the CEO and President of State Street Global Advisors and has more than 20 years of experience across asset management and securities services. The firm has also appointed Chee Seng Lok as business development manager, and Andy Chua as regional product manager to its Asian division. Based in Singapore, they will be working together with Sandra Puah who heads the Multifonds professional services team in Asia. Lok and Chua’s focus will be to further expand Multifonds’ business in Asia. Oded Weiss, CEO at Multifonds, said: “We are excited to have Chee Seng and Andy on board. They are great additions to the Multifonds team and bring invaluable experience of the Asian market to the company that will help us continue to build a strong presence in this region. The hires follow the successful roll-out of our software in Citi’s and HSBC’s offices across Asia.” Lok joins from BNP Paribas Securities Services where he was a director and product head for Asian fund services. Prior to this he worked for Standard Chartered Bank for three years, as its global product head for fund accounting. Chua was previously the global operation head for fund services at Standard Chartered Bank where he oversaw the roll-out of three new platforms, namely fund accounting, alternative investment transfer agency and retail transfer agency.

Man Group has appointed Yifei Li as country chair for China. Prior to her employment by Man, Li represented GLG Partners, which was acquired by Man in October 2010. She was previously Managing Director of MTV Networks Greater China and Chief Representative of Viacom China. “This appointment signals the importance of China to Man’s future development,” said Peter Clarke, chief executive of Man. “We are already extremely well represented in terms of trading, sales and distribution in Asia and expansion in China is the natural next step. Yifei Li is widely recognised in the region for her extensive experience managing multinationals’ growth in the region and we are thrilled that she will be leading Man’s drive to establish its presence there.” Li added: "I’m thrilled to take on this role at one of the world’s leading asset management companies at a time when the financial industry is booming in China. Man is extremely well placed to take advantage of this trend and I look forward to leading Man’s expansion into China.”