Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has appointed Rohit Bhagat as Global Chief Operating Officer.

Bhagat will have oversight responsibility for the technology, operations, finance, strategic planning, human resources, legal, compliance and risk functions for the global firm.

He replaces Rich Ricci, who in January 2005 became Chief Operating Officer of Barclays Capital, Barclays PLC's investment banking division, and Barclays Private Clients. Bhagat will report to BGI's Global Co-CEOs, Blake Grossman and Andrew Skirton, and be based in San Francisco. He will also be a member of BGI's Executive Committee.

"Rohit brings a wealth of relevant experience to BGI," said Blake Grossman.  "He has worked across a broad range of financial services, with extensive experience in asset management and his work has familiarized him with best practices in the functional areas critical to the COO role."

Bhagat, 41, joins BGI from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where he was a Senior Vice President and ran the west coast Financial Services practice based in San Francisco.  While at BCG, Bhagat's responsibilities included leading assignments for clients in retail banking, asset management, wealth management, brokerage and capital markets. He also launched and developed BCG's Indian practice.  Bhagat was a core member of BCG's Technology and Corporate Finance & Strategy practices.  Prior to that, he was with Booz-Allen & Hamilton, a strategic management and technology consulting firm.