Global asset management firm AllianceBernstein has appointed Bradley Gibson as its Asia-Pacific fixed income portfolio manager.

Gibson, who will join the Melbourne office in January next year, comes to AllianceBernstein from ING Investment Management, where he was head of rates strategies.

It is the third appointment in the firm's Asia-Pacific fixed income team.

Last month, it announced Hojung Kang, who was previously with PIMCO, had joined the team in Hong Kong as a credit analyst.

In September, Vincent Tsui joined as an economist for Asia-Pacific, and he is also based in Hong Kong.

"These appointments reflect AllianceBernstein's continuing expansion in the region," AllianceBernstein Asia-Pacific fixed income director Hayden Briscoe said.

"Together with an assistant portfolio manager to be added shortly, they will take to 18 the number of fixed income team members strategically located in Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Singapore and Australia."

The Asia-Pacific fixed income team is part of AllianceBernstein's global fixed income research and portfolio management platform and the firm expects to launch new regionally-focused products.

"Building out the team in this way supports not only the firm's global fixed income strategies, but also our push into launching regionally-themed funds," Briscoe said.

Earlier this year, AllianceBernstein launched a Luxembourg-registered renminbi-denominated fund, managed by the Asia-Pacific fixed income team.

AllianceBernstein's total assets under management at 30 September 2011 stood at US$402 billion, of which US$214 billion was in fixed income.