Last week the firm also announced William Palmer had joined as investment director of its global emerging markets team, in a move that took him from KBC Asset Management.
Simpson has joined from Wells Capital Management in San Francisco where he managed the Latin American exposure of several GEM portfolios.
At the start of the year, Barings saw the departures of James Smyme and Paul Wimbourne to JO Hmambro to assist in its launch of a new EM offering.
Roberto Lampl replaced Smyme as head of global emerging markets leaving his former postion as head of Latin American equities vacant.
Spokesperson for Barings, Steve Ainger, said the firm had been trying to recruit a new head of Latin American equities for a while.
Simpson will take over management of the Baring Latin America Fund, domiciled in Dublin, which has been run by Lampl on a caretaker basis since he became head of GEM in February.
Lampl will now focus on running the GEM fund, which he took over upon Smyme’s departure.
The group’s latest recruit, Simpson, will report to Tim Scholefield head of equities at the firm.
Scholefield said: "Latin America is at the heart of the emerging markets story and we believe that the region has strong fundamentals in place to deliver superior returns over the long-term.
"Michael’s appointment will give us extra capacity and insight as we continue to build our proposition and funds under management in this important region."
The Baring Latin America fund was launched in 1993 and has $667m assets under management, according to the company.
In the year to 31 August the fund lost 14.2% compared to a loss of 9.4% from its benchmark. It also trails the benchmark in returns over three, five and ten years.
