Vontobel has expanded its emerging markets fixed income team with four new appointments across its Zurich and Hong Kong offices, including a strategist/portfolio manager and three new analysts, reflecting its ongoing commitment to developing its emerging markets expertise for the benefit of investors.

Carlos de Sousa has joined the team as emerging markets strategist and Portfolio Manager in Zurich. Carlos is an economist with solid experience in both emerging and frontier markets and joins from Oxford Economics, a leading organization in global forecasting and quantitative analysis. As lead emerging markets economist, he was responsible for thematic macro and strategy research on emerging and frontier markets with a focus on distressed sovereigns and EM-wide global trends. He was previously a research fellow at Bruegel in Brussels, a think tank specialized in economics, where he co-authored policy-oriented research briefings, working papers and economic blogs on European economics.

Nuria Jorba Arimany has joined the team as Research Analyst in Zurich. Nuria has more than 20 years of industry experience, with more than 16 years focused on emerging markets corporate bonds. She brings a deep understanding of Latin America and the region's domestic and geopolitical dynamics, as well as solid experience in various sectors and integrated ESG research. Nuria previously spent 10 years at Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) in Zurich, where she was head of EM Corporate Credit Research. 

Cosmo Zhang joined the team as Research Analyst in Hong Kong. Cosmo brings with him more than 20 years of industry experience, with deep knowledge in APAC corporate credit across various sectors and regions. He previously spent 5 years with Invesco Asset Management, where he was Sector Team Lead of analysts, covering Asia ex-Japan corporate credits for Invesco's global fixed income teams. Prior to that, he worked at FitchRatings as a Director for 5 years within the APAC Corporates Group. 

Pius Yang Xue joined the team as Research Analyst in Hong Kong. With more than 10 years of industry experience, Pius previously worked at Dymon Asia where he was a senior investment analyst focused on Greater China high yield, stressed and distressed credit. Before he worked at LIM Advisors, Partners Group and Houlihan Lokey, where he gained experience in credit and equity investments as well as advisory.

"We are excited to welcome our new team members, their diverse backgrounds and experience will enrich our team analysis. Their strong analytical skills, together with a commitment to a high-conviction, long-term approach, are aligned with our investment beliefs and they will all play a key role in further generating great value for our clients," said Luc D'hooge, head of emerging markets bonds.

Simon Lue Fong, head of fixed income, said: "Emerging fixed income is a strategic market for us at Vontobel, and this is a team in which we will continue to invest heavily going forward by adding further outstanding talent. We do this for the benefit of our investors who accompany us on the emerging debt journey both directly and indirectly through our fixed income solutions." 

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