Pimco's Toloui nominated for Treasury Department role

President Barack Obama has nominated Ramin Toloui, who co-heads Pacific Investment Management Co.'s emerging-market portfolio, for a role in the Treasury Department, according to the White House. Mr. Toloui was proposed for the position of deputy undersecretary for international finance, the White House said in a statement Thursday. He joined Pimco, the world's biggest bond- fund manager with $1.9 trillion of assets under management, in 2006 as an emerging-market money manager, taking on his current job five years later. The Pimco Emerging Markets Bond Fund has returned 4.2% this year, beating 55% of peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Over the past year, the fund lost 3.5%, coming below 54% of similar funds. Mr. Toloui, who will also serve as assistant secretary for international finance upon appointment, has held Treasury Department posts in the past, according to the White House statement. He served as director of the Office of the Western Hemisphere and as a senior adviser to the undersecretary for international affairs. Pimco's former chief executive, Mohamed El-Erian, said Jan. 21 he would leave the company in mid-March, spurring a leadership shakeup at the fund firm. Mr. El-Erian plans to write a book about the rise and potential fall of central banks, a person familiar with the matter said.