The former head of Morgan Stanley's investment strategy group, which helped advise and supplied research to some of the world's biggest institutional money managers, has landed at exchange-traded funds leader Barclays Global Investors.

Deborah Fuhr, who was one of the first analysts to develop in-depth reports sizing up the global ETF market, will serve as global head of ETF research and implementation strategy, BGI announced on Sunday night.

Fuhr, who left Morgan Stanley in May shortly before the firm closed its influential London-based investments strategies group, will also carry the title of managing director at BGI. She was at Morgan Stanley for some 11 years and chronicled the growth of ETFs almost from their infancy.

Ironically, Fuhr put out an independent report recently along with analyst Shane Kelly that found BGI's lead in the European ETF market has slipped notably this year with the introduction of new competition. That is coming mainly from Deutsche Bank's start-up db x-trackers ETF unit, the study found. (See related article here.) 

When IndexUniverse.com's European correspondent Paul Amery caught up with Fuhr shortly after she left Morgan Stanley (see interview here), she wasn't talking about where she'd wind up. But she was considered a hot commodity within the industry and believed to be in discussions with a number of firms about continuing her pioneering research into the ETF market.

As a result, it's not surprising that BGI has decided to give Fuhr a high profile with wide-ranging resources. While remaining based in London for her new assignment, which becomes effective Sept. 15, "she will spend a significant portion of her time working with BGI's ... client base in Europe and North America, as well as in BGI's rapidly developing markets such as Australasia, Latin America and the Middle East," according to officials at the company.

"Deborah joins at a very exciting time for the ETF industry, as it expands into rapidly growing new markets around the world," said Lee Kranefuss, chief executive of iShares at BGI, in a statement.  

He added: "Her depth of knowledge will add an extremely useful new dimension to our client offerings."

Blake Grossman, BGI's chief executive, said "her innovative approach to market and portfolio analysis will help further extend the industry-leading position we have established through BGI's iShares platform."

Fuhr is expected to put together her team quickly and start producing her customary reports shortly.

For her part, Fuhr noted that she was "delighted" to be joining the ETF industry's No. 1 player.

"BGI has a market-leading position based on its reputation for innovation and high quality products that meet the rapidly changing investment needs of institutional and intermediary-based clients around the world. That reputation makes BGI a natural home for the analysis and research that I intend to produce," she said.