UBS Global Asset Management (UBS GAM) has lost another senior member of its Australian equities team.

Investment analyst Marcus Truman, who was most recently covering the financial and telco sectors, left last week amid speculation he will join the boutique being established by UBS GAM’s former head of Australian equities, Paul Fiani. UBS GAM portfolio manager, Shawn Burns, left just after Fiani last month and will work at the boutique which Fiani is currently getting licenced, Integrity Investment Management. Fiani was unavailable for comment at press time. Truman had worked for UBS GAM for several years and was highly regarded by many in the research community – an ipac report from January listed him as one of five “;core”; members of the 15-person Australian equities team. He covered property securities during his UBS GAM tenure, and it is understood John Snowden tried to convince him to defect with him from UBS GAM when Snowden became head of listed property at Colonial First State in January 2006. Managing director of UBS GAM, Paul Bolinowsky, said an assessment of how to replace Burns and Truman would be made by incoming head of Australian equities, Simon Shields, once he arrives on July 2. Despite Shields most recently working for a growth manager in Colonial First State, Bolinowsky said UBS GAM would stringently retain the “;valuation-based”; process it employs in all equities markets. Bolinowsky pointed out Shields had worked for two value managers, Westpac and Rothschild, prior to his Colonial tenure.