Posted inPeople Moves

Nikko bolsters management with four hires

Japanese fund manager Nikko Asset Management has made four senior hires including global head of sales and global head of investment.

The Tokyo-headquartered company described the hires as “bolstering its global management structure”.

Takuya Koyama has been appointed global head of sales and will be responsible for global institutional sales as well as international retail sales. Koyama previously held senior positions in international sales at Nomura Securities, Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and Citicorp Securities Japan.

Hideyuki Omokawa has been named head of strategic product innovation, and will oversee the development of products on a global basis, while also managing the interaction between the sales and investment teams through a newly established office of the chief investment officer. Omokawa was previously president of FGI Capital Partners, and before that held senior positions at Goldman Sachs Japan and Nikko Cordial Securities.

Motonobu Hasegawa has been hired as global head of request for proposal (RFP), and will lead a team of specialists in Japan and in overseas offices. Hasegawa previously led the RFP team at UBS Global Asset Management Japan, and also worked at Aberdeen Investment Management, Credit Suisse Asset Management and Pictet Asset Management Japan.

In the investment management division, Yu-Ming Wang, who oversees the investment teams outside of Japan, has been named global head of investment to orchestrate the work of Nikko AM’s global investment team, which covers staff in nine countries. Japan CIO Hiroki Tsujimura will continue to be responsible for investment management in the Tokyo office.

“As we aim to deliver world-class products to clients globally, we’re introducing a matrix management structure that will allow us to meet local market needs with products based on the highest global standards,” said Takumi Shibata who took over as chief executive earlier this month from Charles Beazley.

Hideyuki Omokawa’s and Yu-Ming Wang’s roles take effect on January 31, while Takuya Koyama and Motonobu Hasegawa will join the firm on February 1.

Part of the Mark Allen Group.