Pimco names Bernanke to new advisory board

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, ex-U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and former European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet will help lead a new Global Advisory Board for Pacific Investment Management Co. They, along with Ng Kok Song, former chief investment officer of Singapore's GIC Pte, and Anne-Marie Slaughter, an ex-director of policy planning for the U.S. State Department, will provide Pimco their “collective view on global economic, political and strategic developments and their relevance for financial markets,” the Newport Beach, Calif.-based firm said in a statement Monday. “The formation of the board continues our tradition of engaging outside experts to provide their perspectives to our deep team of investment professionals,” Pimco Chief Executive Douglas Hodge said in the statement. The board will meet several times a year at Pimco's headquarters as well as the firm's global offices and will attend its annual Secular Forum. REASSURING CLIENTS Pimco, which oversees about $1.5 trillion including the $92 billion Pimco Total Return Fund, is seeking to reassure clients and fortify its ranks after the departures of CIOs Bill Gross and Mohamed El-Erian last year. It has hired Joachim Fels, former chief economist at Morgan Stanley, and added Gene Sperling, a former economic adviser to two U.S. presidents, and Nobel laureate Michael Spence as consultants on economic policy. Alan Greenspan, who retired in 2006 after 18 years as the head of the U.S. central bank, previously worked as a consultant to Pimco. Mr. Bernanke joined Pimco in April as a senior adviser, his second consulting agreement along with a position at Citadel, a Chicago-based hedge fund headed by Kenneth Griffin.