HSBC Global Asset Management has appointed Stuart Kirk to the role of global head of research and insights, reporting to Joanna Munro, global CIO.

Kirk will lead the newly created research and insights team, whose aim is to provide the firm’s retail and institutional clients with differentiated and thought-provoking investment content, and promote its extensive research and analysis.

As part of his role, Stuart will lead a new initiative called AlphaLabs, which brings together the firm’s analysts, data and behavioural scientists, quantitative teams as well as external academics and researchers in order to apply the latest developments in investment approaches, techniques and technologies to client portfolios.

The research and insights will work closely with the responsible investments team in the creation and publishing of analysis on sustainable finance, and house the firm’s portfolio reporting team.

Kirk previously ran the research institute at DWS, having moved to the buyside from Deutsche Bank, where he was global head of multi-asset and thematic research. Prior to that, he was editor of the Financial Times’s Lex Column. Stuart also worked in the asset management practice of Oliver Wyman, a consultancy, and before that spent eight years as a global equity portfolio manager at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell.

Munro notes: “[Kirk] has a wealth of experience that will be instrumental in shaping our research and insights team, ensuring that our clients have access to the highest-quality research and content in order to make better informed investment decisions.”