What is Pimco and what will Gordon Brown do there?

Gordon Brown, the former UK prime minister, has taken his first role since he left Downing Street in 2010 at Pimco, an asset management company

The former PM is reported to be joining the new Pimco board chaired by Ben Bernanke (AFP)

What is Pimco?

Pimco stands for Pacific Investment Management Company LLC, a global investment management company with headquarters in Newport Beach, California.

It invests money on behalf of millions of people – pensioners, schools, universities, central banks and Government agencies.

How much money are we talking about?

About $1.47 trillion, as of September 30. That’s more than the GDP of Spain.

What’s Gordon Brown going to do there?

The former PM is reported to be joining the new Pimco board chaired by Ben Bernanke, who used to be the Federal Reserve chairman before Janet Yellen.

Brown will be an adviser to the board, which involved making an annual speech to the company’s “secular forum” to set long term investment strategies.

Why’s he doing that?

So he can talk economics with other economists, basically. “Mr Brown is looking forward to discussing economic events and trends again with Ben Bernanke, Jean-Claude Trichet, Anne-Marie Slaughter [international lawyer and policy expert] and others,” a spokesman for Brown told the FT.

How much will he get paid?

That’s unclear. Bernanke got seven figures – Brown’s package is probably less. He did get paid £36,174 for a one-off speech at Pimco’s headquarters in 2011, plus almost £13,000 more in flights and accommodation.

Brown's people have said that any penny he does get paid will go to charity. “Any money goes to the Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown to support their charitable and public service work. Mr Brown does not receive a penny," a spokesman said.

Wasn’t Brown PM when the crash happened? Why do Pimco want him on the board?

Brown joins a whole host of other impressive names at Pimco including the former president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, and Ng Kok Song, chief investment officer of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund until 2013.

These names are currency for Pimco – a means of impressing heavyweight clients. Especially after its founder, Bill Gross, walked away from the company and then sued it last year.