Mark Hammond

Fidelity hires Hammond from M&GFidelity Investments has hired Mark Hammond as an investment director in its UK institutional business.He is based in London and reports to Anna Roads, director Sales & Marketing of Fidelity's global institutional business.Hammond will be responsible for new business development and client relationship management within the UK.Before joining Fidelity he was head of Japanese investments at M&G.He began his career with Save & Prosper/Flemings.

BNP Paribas strengthens equity capital markets groupBNP Paribas has announced a number of hires and organisational changes in its equity capital markets (ECM) group, part of its corporate finance division.

Mark Hammond, head of Japanese business at M&G, says that the deregulatory moves and the breakdown of social and business paternalism' should lead to the more efficient use of capital. This time it be different, he says, adding that previous false starts' were not set against the backdrop of genuine economic recovery. there be more money in consumers' pockets so we should see consumption at a more robust level and land prices are bottoming out which is good news for companies' balance sheets.'.

The move towards a more western basis of accounting among Japanese companies is also a positive step, argues Hammond.He thinks the resulting improvements in disclosure will put more emphasis on shareholder value - a notion which has been largely lacking in corporate Japan to date. The introduction of option schemes and share buybacks also mean the interests of shareholders and managers are moving more in line, he adds.

Hammond singles out Japan's small and mid-cap companies as likely to be high performers in the coming months.Many are run by young entrepreneurs who have studied business abroad and they are going to extraordinary lengths to improve their investor relations programs.The effect is to push the large caps into improving transparency and disclosure as well.

Stocks on the TSE-2 and OTC are looking cheap relative to their larger brethren, concludes Hammond. Historically, there is a strong correlation between bond yield and small cap performance.Small caps tend to outperform when bond yields rise.

Fidelity Investments has appointed Mark Hammond as an investment director with its UK institutional division.

Prior to joining Fidelity , Hammond was head of Japanese investments at fund manager M&G.