He will report to James Elliot, who is chief investment officer for this unit, and will focus on determining global economic and asset allocation strategies.

A spokesperson for JPM confirmed that Bilton’s views will feed into the JP Morgan Funds Global Income Fund and its SICAV-equivalent, the JPM Multi-Asset Income Fund.

Both funds are overseen by Talib Sheikh, who is Citywire + rated, and Citywire A-rated manager Michael Schoenhaut.

Bilton was previously with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he had served as head of European investment strategy. This had seen him responsible for both European equity strategy and broader asset allocation research.

Commenting on the appointment, James Elliot said: ‘John brings extensive asset allocation experience and leadership to our existing team. He will work closely with our quantitative research team and portfolio managers, across asset classes, to continue to build our asset allocation capabilities globally.’

The JPM Multi-Asset Income fund returned 34.7% over the three years to the end of May 2014. The average manager in the Mixed Assets – Balanced sector returned 14.6% over the same period.