Blackrock nets a former regional head of exchange-traded funds at Citi to head its regional iShares unit.
Rimmo Jolly joins Blackrock as the Hong Kong-based APAC head of iShares reporting to Susan Chan, head of iShares and index investing, APAC. According to a release, Jolly will be responsible for driving ETF growth and adoption while working with colleagues on local product offerings and ETF ecosystem enhancements across the region.
Jolly is currently Citi’s APAC head of ETF and index sales and business development where he leads client origination with a focus on asset owners of growing and maturing portfolios. He had also previously worked for Deutsche Bank’s equity structured products group.
Passives in Turbulence
Despite fears that a global crash could cause ETFs to suffer major losses in favor of active investors, optimism about the approach remains especially due to the fact that an increasing number of active investors are major users of the investment instrument.
«The recent extreme risk-off market environment has showcased the underlying strength of ETFs,» Chan noted. «I look forward to working with [Jolly] to bring our suite of global and local products to investors in the region, and to raise awareness of using iShares ETFs as an instrument of active investment management.»
