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JPMORGAN ASSET MANAGEMENT CONTINUES TO EXPAND

Jan 10, 2007

JPMorgan Asset Management (JPMAM) announced today the further expansion of its UK Retail team with the appointment of Mike Parsons as Head of UK Distributor Sales. In his new role, Parsons, who joins from Schroders, will assume responsibility for retail distribution within the UK, with a team of five reporting to him. Alex Barry will move to Head of Wholesale Channel. Both Parsons and Barry will report to Jasper Berens, Head of UK Intermediary Sales. In addition, Derek Borthwick, joins from Fidelity, and will be responsible for sales in Scotland, N.E. England, and Northern Ireland. He will report to Mike Parsons.

Alex Barry, an employee since 1998, has moved to head up the Wholesale Channel, where he will head up a team of three to oversee sales to discretionary asset managers including banks, private banks, fund of funds, and private client managers. Barry has over eleven years’ experience within the asset management industry, and previously worked at Fidelity. 

Mike Parsons joins JPMAM from Schroders Investment Management where he was Third Party Sales Manager, and instrumental in setting up Schroders' Third Party Distribution business. Before joining Schroders in 2000, he was Third Party Sales Executive at Fidelity. Parsons has a successful track record in developing retail businesses in UK asset management, and has a first class reputation amongst the intermediary community.

Derek Borthwick joins from Fidelity where he was responsible for sales in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and part of Northern England. Previous to this, he was a regional sales manager for Foreign & Colonial. Borthwick will focus on developing new and existing distribution channels through third party intermediaries, in what is a very important region for JPMAM.

Commenting on the appointments, Jasper Berens, Head of UK Intermediary Sales at JPMorgan Asset Management said, “JPMAM has had a very strong 2006 in terms of both investment performance and sales, and is already one of the leading brands in the UK in terms of reputation and brand recognition. With 80% of our funds ranked in the first or second quartile, across all periods, we are seeing an increased demand for our products.” 

Berens continued: “As we are significantly growing our business in the UK it is key to have regional representation to support our distribution partners and clients. We have more than trebled our regional sales force demonstrating our commitment to the UK retail sector, and the combined expertise of Alex, Mike, and Derek will provide a solid foundation for the next phase of growth in our UK business.”