EIP's Stewart Aldcroft takes Citi investor services role
After more than 25 years in Hong Kong – largely spent in investment management – Stewart Aldcroft is joining Citi's global transaction services division.
He started on Monday this week as managing director and senior adviser for investor services, reporting to David Russell, Citi's Asia-Pacific head of securities and fund services. Based in Hong Kong, Aldcroft will help develop new initiatives and expand the client base across the region.
Citi has been expanding its securities and fund services business, most recently with the launch of an ETF-servicing platform. The bank is one of the biggest ETF market-makers in the region, and its third-party offering packages market-making with an array of fund services.
Aldcroft was previously head of business development for beta products at Enhanced Investment Products (EIP), having joined the firm in May 2010.
He had been helping to develop a range of ETFs for the Hong Kong-based asset manager. However, he has been frustrated - along with other ETF issuers - by how long it is taking Hong Kong to approve swaps-based versions of such products.
EIP confirms it has hired a replacement for Aldcroft, who will continue to develop the ETF series, and made two other additions. It will release further details shortly.
"[The new job] is a great opportunity to get back into the market as an adviser on investments and Citi is a great platform for doing that," Aldcroft tells AsianInvestor.
He is essentially a replacement at Chris Ryan, the former regional head of US asset manager Fidelity who joined Citi early last year on a one-year contract. Ryan left the bank to join Australian asset manager Perpetual as CEO in February.
A big part of Aldcroft's role - as it was for Ryan - will be to advise clients outside Asia on accessing the region, says Russell. "That's one aspect of Chris's role that became particularly useful," he adds.
Dario Frigerio, previously CEO of Pioneer Investments, does a similar job for Citi in Europe out of London, notes Russell.
Aldcroft has worked on the business development and client relationship side for traditional, hedge, structured and alternatives funds houses, and has opened offices for several of them across Asia.
He is also no stranger to the sell side, having worked as head of business development for investment services at Standard Chartered in Hong Kong.
His other roles include regional director for Swiss investment manager Horizon21 (previously Noble Investments) in Hong Kong, managing director at Investec Asset Management Asia, and marketing and sales director at Franklin Templeton Investment Services Asia.