Allianz GI's head of trading to retire

Allianz Global Investors global head of trading Christoph Mast is to retire at the end of the summer.

Allianz Global Investors global head of trading Christoph Mast is to retire at the end of the summer.

Eric Boess, the former global head of derivatives trading is to take over Mast’s responsibilities.

At 57, Christoph Mast has had a long career in trading and asset management, despite initially training as a lawyer.

Mast oversees around 40 traders in the US, Asia and Europe, across all asset classes, and is a member of Allianz GI’s Global Investment Management Group.

He started his career as an M&A and corporate finance associate at ABD Securities in New York in 1986. After returning to Europe in 1989, the Frenchman spent 10 years as an emerging markets fixed income specialist running the EM trading and sales operations at Chemical Bank and Dresdner Kleinwort in Frankfurt and London (1998-1999).

In 1999, he joined the asset management arm of what became Allianz Global Investors.

He told The Trade: “I saw asset management, and for a sell-side trader to join the buy-side, as a great challenge. Allianz Global Investors is a firm with a huge momentum.”

How would Mast describe his trading strategy? “As with every asset manager, it is about minimising market impact,” he explained. “Now we have more analysis tools available, it’s much easier to track things.”

Over the past year, Mast has been involved in projects, most notably around TCA Fixed Income and FX Trading, in preparation for Mifid II.

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