BlackRock has appointed Masato Sunaga as co-head of Japan client business, effective July 2023.
Sunaga will be responsible for strengthening strategic relationships with wealth distributors in Japan and will also partner with the iShares and index investment business to accelerate the adoption of exchange traded funds and index products across wealth and institutional clients.
“Japan will be a key contributor as BlackRock pursues its growth plans in Asia Pacific. I am delighted to welcome a veteran like Masato to enable our clients to benefit from his deep local expertise and understanding of the markets. It is our priority to help clients build whole portfolios effectively particularly at times of rapid market evolution,” said James Raby, BlackRock’s Apac head of wealth.
“Masato’s deep understanding of the Japanese financial market is invaluable at a time when the Japanese government is encouraging more investments. I look forward to partnering with Masato to deliver the most relevant investment solutions to our Wealth clients,” said Hiroyuki Arita, president and CEO of BlackRock Japan.
“I am excited to join BlackRock and look forward to working closely with the team and our clients to explore how BlackRock’s wide range of investment solutions can contribute to achieving their investment goals,” said Sunaga.
Sunaga was most recently co-head of sales at Morgan Stanley Investment Management in Japan. He has also served other large international and Japanese financial institutions including Goldman Sachs, Societe Generale and Daiwa Securities.
