J.P. Morgan Asset Management hired two people as part of an effort to expand the firms municipal strategies team.
The New York-based wealth managers tax-aware fixed-income group hired Margaret Byrne and Priscilla Hancock to be responsible for product and strategy development and client-relationship management, the firm announced Wednesday.
Hancock was previously in charge of strategy and market development at Standard & Poors, and before that a senior vice president in the municipal bond department at Lehman Brothers.
Byrne joins from Financial Security Assurance, where she managed an insurance company portfolio. Before that, she was vice president in municipal bond underwriting for Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp.
Hancock and Byrne are now part of a nine-person team that essentially acts as spokespeople for the companys municipal products, said Connie Plaehn, managing director for JPMorgans high-net-worth and mutual funds business.
Byrne will be the senior relationship manager for high-net-worth clients, and Hancock will focus on further developing the municipal management business.
J.P. Morgan Asset Management manages about $38 billion of municipals.
The strategies team works with both internal and external clients.
Our distribution partners have increased head counts, and that means we have more clients to serve, Plaehn said.
The importance of the strategies team has increased, she said, because the financial crisis and the Bernie Madoff scandal have prompted investors to turn a more critical eye to their portfolios.
Its critical for our industry to be more transparent, to explain things more clearly, and to develop products that really are fitting their needs, Plaehn said.
