Edinburgh-based global manager Martin Currie Investment Management has hired two senior recruits – one to boost its EAFE and ex-US management and the other for global management.

The firm has poached Christine Montgomery from local rival Edinburgh Partners for the EAFE mandates and Neil Robson from Pioneer Investments. Both will join around year-end, reporting to James Fairweather, head of global equities.

Montgomery was an investment partner responsible for managing segregated accounts totally A$800 million and before that was responsible for managing $3.3 billion in global accounts for Franklin Templeton. Robson was head of global equities for Pioneer Investments.

Willie Watt, chief executive of the staff-owned firm, said the appointments reflected the continued move by clients away from their traditional home-country biases.

The firm has also boosted its sales and client services functions in the region with the recent hiring of former asset consultant and institutional business development manager Ee Fang Chen in Singapore, reporting to Kimon Kouryialas, the regional head for Pan Asia, based in Melbourne.