BlackRock hires key staff for APAC

The world's largest asset manager has appointed Tomoko Ueda as the head of corporate strategy and development for the region, hiring from Nikko Asset Management.

The firm has also hired Aarti Angara as head of product for the Asia Pacific,  also arriving from Nikko AM.

BlackRock said the new hires mark continued investment in the firm's leadership and expertise to advance regional strategy and develop products that reflect APAC investor needs.

In the new role, Ueda will partner with business leaders regionally and globally to formulate and execute the firm's strategy to support clients across the region.

She was most recently senior corporate officer and global head of strategic planning and management information at Nikko AM.

Before that, she was managing director of equity capital markets at Merrill Lynch Japan Securities after serving as head of equity capital markets at Morgan Stanley.

For her part,  Angara will lead platform initiatives on product creation and implementation to provide the offerings regional and global investors need to achieve their financial goals.

She joins from Caravel Asset Management,t where she most recently served as investment chief.

Before that, she was co-head of Morgan Stanley's proprietary investment special situations group for Asia ex-Japan.

"Our ambition is to help clients in ways that transform the asset management industry in the region, and we are strengthening our leadership team with uniquely qualified regional talent to do so," said Rachel Lord, chair and head of BlackRock APAC.

Ueda added that BlackRock is consistently ahead of the curve in terms of its vision for the industry and region.

"BlackRock is known for challenging itself to think differently, and I look forward to deepening the APAC investor perspectives at the heart of the firm's regional offerings," said Angara.