Ben Bernanke to PIMCO

Reuters/Shaun Curry/Pool

Former Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is taking on a new role at the helm of a new advisory board at PIMCO.

According to a press release on Monday, the new Global Advisory Board will also be made up of Gordon Brown, former UK prime minister, and Jean-Claude Trichet, former president of the European Central Bank.

"The Board members will contribute their insights to the firm on global economic, political, and strategic developments and their relevance for financial markets," the press release said. 

Bernanke took over as Fed chair from Alan Greenspan in 2006, and served until 2014. He became a senior adviser to PIMCO in April, and became an adviser to the hedge fund Citadel in the same month.

Last year, PIMCO was rattled by the sudden departure of co-founder and bond-market guru Bill Gross, who left the firm to join Janus Capital. 

Here's PIMCO's release:

PIMCO, a leading global investment management firm, has retained five world-renowned experts on economic and political issues to form a PIMCO Global Advisory Board. The Board members will contribute their insights to the firm on global economic, political, and strategic developments and their relevance for financial markets. The members of the Board are Ben Bernanke (who will serve as chairman), Gordon Brown, Ng Kok Song, Anne-Marie Slaughter and Jean-Claude Trichet.

The Board will meet several times a year at PIMCO’s Newport Beach office as well as at other PIMCO offices around the world. The members will also attend the firm’s annual Secular Forum in May of each year, where PIMCO’s investment professionals discuss the economic outlook and its implications for markets over the next three to five years. Together, the Board members will contribute their economic, geopolitical, and market expertise and insights to the firm’s investment process.

The Global Advisory Board members:

• Ben Bernanke , former Federal Reserve Chairman and scholar at the Brookings Institution.
• Gordon Brown , former U.K Prime Minister and former Chancellor of the Exchequer.
• Ng Kok Song, former Chief Investment Officer of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC).
• Anne-Marie Slaughter , President and CEO of New America, Bert G. Kerstetter '66 University Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, and former Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. State Department.
• Jean-Claude Trichet, former President of the European Central Bank and present chairman of the European group of the Trilateral Commission.

“The Global Advisory Board is an unrivalled team of macroeconomic thinkers and former policymakers, whose insights into the intersection of policy and financial markets will be a valuable input to our investment process,” said Dan Ivascyn, PIMCO’s Group Chief Investment Officer.

“Sharing insights on how global macroeconomic and geopolitical policy affects markets and investments is an important part of the value we bring to investors as stewards of their assets, so our clients will benefit greatly from the experience and insight the Global Advisory Board will provide to us,” said Douglas Hodge, PIMCO’s Chief Executive Officer.

Dr. Bernanke, Chair of the PIMCO Global Advisory Board and senior advisor to the firm, said: “I am honored to chair a Board of individuals I hold in the highest esteem. We are all excited by the opportunity to provide PIMCO’s strong team of investment professionals with our collective view on how global economic, political, and strategic developments will affect markets and PIMCO’s clients.”

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