New Managers Join AXP Fund

Bertsimas and Mourtzinou, like their predecessors, are quantitative managers who use computer models to pick stocks, a spokesman for AXP funds said. The fund group, a unit of Amer Express (AXP), changed Managed Allocation’s fund managers to give investors in its funds a wider choice of quantitative portfolio managers, he said. The change was not related to the fund’s performance, he added.

An international balanced fund, AXP Managed Allocation lost 11% this year through November, while its peers were down 6.4% on average. For the three year period ended in November, the fund posted an annualized loss 5.4%, versus 2.9% for its peer.

The new managers joined American Express this summer, when the firm acquired Dynamic Ideas LLC, a consulting company that developed quantitative tools for asset management companies.