Ex-central banker to head Brevan Howard Latam unit

* Brevan Howard opens LatAm research office

* Puts Brazil central bank ex-deputy governor at helm ZURICH, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Brevan Howard, Europe's biggest hedge funds group, has hired the former deputy governor of Brazil's central bank to head up a new office in Sao Paolo and beef up its regional research muscle, the company said Monday.

The Latin America research office will be headed by Mario Mesquita, who was deputy governor of Brazil's central bank from 2006 until earlier this year.

British-based Brevan Howard, which is moving a handful of staff to a subsidiary registered in Geneva this year, manages $32 billion, making it the world's fourth largest hedge funds manager. Its flagship Brevan Howard Master Fund has more than $24 billion under management. The global fund bets on bond and currency markets, and returned 21 percent in 2008 and 19 percent last year.

The average hedge fund lost roughly 20 percent in 2008 as equities markets collapsed during the height of the credit crisis, while nearly 1,500 funds folded altogether. Hedge funds returns recovered in 2009, with gains averaging 20 percent. (Reporting by Martin de Sa'Pinto; Editing by Dan Lalor)