Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has confirmed it is to open a fixed income office based in New York in April this year.

The investment house said the expansion will help it to manage additional US fixed income asset classes from a local base and meet the ‘growing demand’ from clients for what it called ‘innovative’ products.

Mark Connolly, director of Fixed Income at SWIP, said the team has gone from strength to strength in the build up to this announcement.

He added, ‘The opening of our US Fixed Income office demonstrates our ongoing commitment to developing a global capability.

‘A core part of our fixed income strategy is to deliver innovative global solutions which meet the needs of our expanding client base and our US Fixed Income office will provide an excellent platform to grow our global business.

‘The US fixed income market is the deepest and most liquid bond market in the world and it offers exciting opportunities for investors.’

As part of the move, Neil Murray, Global Head of Credit at SWIP, will move to New York to lead the US Fixed Income division.

Murray has 12 years’ experience in fixed income investing and has led SWIP’s Credit capability for four years.

Over this period, Neil and the team of 12 have delivered strong investment returns for SWIP’s fixed income clients. SWIP’s first key objective for its US operation is to establish a US high yield pedigree.

To drive its expertise in this asset class, SWIP has hired Kevin Mathews as head of US High Yield. He will join SWIP in March 2011 and will report to Neil Murray.

Mathews will be based in SWIP’s New York office. Mathews has over 28 years’ investment experience as a high yield fund manager and has held a number of senior positions throughout the course of his career in both the UK and in the US.

He joins SWIP from F&C Investments where he was head of High Yield and a portfolio manager responsible for a number of Global, European and US high yield mandates.

Giulio Ponte, High Yield Analyst in SWIP’s Edinburgh-based European high yield team, will move to the US to work for Mathews.

Ponte has over five years’ credit research experience, most of which has been spent working in the US, researching various sectors of the US high yield market.

By June 2011, SWIP’s US high yield team is targetting high yield assets in excess of US $900 million.