Barings Asset Management Korea has named its Chief Investment Officer John Park as its joint head in a revamp to pursue efficiencies in management.

Park will serve as one of BAMK’s two representative directors along with the incumbent CEO Ike Bae, as the firm adopts a multiple representative director system. The board approved the plan Wednesday.

Park will lead investment management and support client relationships, while Bae will continue to lead the overall corporate management, including sales, client relationship and non-investment functions, BAMK said.

“Changing to a multiple representative directors’ system will create more efficiencies in management and enable John and Ike to work closely to meet the diverse needs of our clients,” Duncan Robertson, head of Asia-Pacific at Barings, said in a statement. “This builds upon our foundation of success in Korea and positions our business for the next phase of its growth.”

Park joined BAMK in 2004 as head of investment strategy and has served as its CIO since July 2008. Previously, he built his career at Deutsche Asset Management Korea, SEI Investment and the Korea Investment Trust.

Barings is a global investment house with $338 billion assets under management as of December. It launched its Korean subsidiary in 2013 with the acquisition of SEI Asset Korea. BAMK’s AUM came to 14 trillion won ($11.8 billion) as of Tuesday, with funds mostly invested in stocks and bonds. 

By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)