CREDIT Suisse veteran Ray Farris has been appointed chief economist of Prudential’s asset management arm, Eastspring Investments, to drive economic analysis and insights for both Eastspring and its parent company.
On Monday (Jan 6), Prudential said Farris will be the group’s first chief economist, reporting to Eastspring’s chief investment officer Vis Nayar.
Based in Singapore, he will provide Eastspring in-depth macroeconomic data, trends and insights to guide investment and asset allocation decisions.
Farris joins Prudential from Credit Suisse, where he spent 22 years in various leadership roles.
Most recently, he was the Swiss bank’s global chief economist and chief investment officer for the Americas – a role that was based in New York.
For the most part of his career at Credit Suisse from 2001 to 2022, he was predominantly based in Singapore and held titles including chief investment officer for South Asia, as well as head of Asia economics and fixed-income strategy.
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Farris has a Master of Science in Finance from London Business School, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of North Carolina.
Since starting out in 1991 as Crosby Securities’ head of economics and equity strategy in Hong Kong, he has garnered more than 30 years of experience as an economist and strategist for international financial services firms.
Prudential also noted Farris has led research in economics, markets and policy across three continents over the course of his career so far.
“Ray joins us at a pivotal time, against a global macroeconomic backdrop marked by heightened uncertainty and complexity. We look forward to his contributions as we continue to enhance our asset allocation and financial outcomes,” said Eastspring chief executive Bill Maldonado.
He added that Farris’ breadth and depth of experience – coupled with his understanding of global economics and markets – will be “invaluable” to the asset management arm’s investment teams and clients.
