London: Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA) banker Ali Reza Zaimi for a senior role at the fund, a source familiar with the matter said.
Zaimi is leaving his post as managing director EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) in the equities division at BofA, the source said.
Zaimi joined BofA in late 2014 and has also previously worked for Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, according to his linkedin profile.
The PIF was not available to comment.
The latest hiring comes as the Saudi sovereign fund plans to ramp up its assets from $224 billion to $400 billion (Dh822.7 billion to Dh1.47 trillion) to by 2020.
Over the last two years, the fund has been hiring financial professionals from around the world as it targets domestic as well as overseas investments.
Earlier this year, the fund announced it planned to put $20 billion into a $40-billion fund with Blackstone Group.
The PIF now has over 200 staff and expects eventually to have over 1,000, managing director Yasir Al-Rumayyan told Reuters in an interview on October 25.
