It is a sign of the global ambitions of Gilles Glicenstein, chairman of BNP Paribas Asset Management, the French fund manager, that his latest big hire has been plucked from Goldman Sachs – a master of foreign expansion.

To underline the point, Vincent Camerlynck, Glicenstein's new global head of sales, will be based in London rather than Paris. And Glicenstein told Financial News that he is planning to make acquisitions in the UK and the US.