LONDON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Britain's Standard Life Investments (SLI) has appointed its first chairman for Asian operations, poaching a former BlackRock executive to lead its expansion in the continent.
Seiichi Fukuyama, who joined after 20 years at BlackRock, where he advised the company on its Asian investments, will develop a tie-up with Japan's Chuo Mitsui Asset and Management Trust Banking.
The strategic partnership was agreed in July.
"This appointment is part of the strategic ambition to increase in Asia and is on the back of the Chuo Mitsui joint venture earlier in the year," a spokesperson for SLI told Reuters. SLI is the fund management arm of insurer Standard Life .
Through the tie-up with Japan's Chuo Mitsui, SLI is able to sell its broader fund range to Japanese retail and institutional investors via the Japanese firm's distribution network.
At the end of the second quarter SLI had attracted 4.7 billion pounds ($7.46 billion) from Indian investors, just over 3 percent of its total assets, the bulk of which came from the UK. ($1=.6298 Pound) (Reporting by Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Sinead Cruise and Jon Loades-Carter)