Moore to head JPMorgan SWF

JPMorgan says it has tapped Bear Stearns' former Asia CEO to run its sovereign wealth group, joining other Wall Street banks in seeking more business from funds from the Middle East and Asia.

JPMorgan completed the fire-sale acquisition this month of Bear Stearns, following its stock plunge and collapse this year.

Like the rest of Bear's employees, the future of former Asia head John Moore was uncertain.

Sovereign wealth funds are the state-run investment vehicles that, through mainly soaring oil prices or trade surpluses, have amassed trillions of dollars and have increasingly invested it in companies across the world, from Wall Street to London.

Last August, New York-based Bear appointed Moore as its Hong Kong-based Asia CEO, as it tried to build its business overseas. Previously, he was co-head of fixed income for Europe. Moore joined Bear Stearns in 2001 as global head of agency capital markets in New York.