Nikko AM adds global role to institutional business

Nikko Asset Management has hired a global head of institutional marketing from Barclays in a newly created role as it strives to build its institutional business.

Stefanie Drews is set to relocate from London to Tokyo to take up the role at the start of next month. Most recently she worked as global head of key clients and family offices at Barclays Wealth and Investment Management.

The appointment comes after Nikko AM moved to bolster its global management structure this year, announcing in January that Takuya Koyama had joined as its global head of sales, Hideyuki Omokawa as global head of strategic product innovation and Motonobu Hasegawa as global head of request for proposal.

Similarly Wang Yu-Ming was named global head of investment to oversee the work of Nikko AM’s global investment team, which covers nine countries.

The aim is to standardise the experience of clients so that it is consistent globally.

Hideo Abe, executive vice-chairman of Nikko AM, notes that the firm is looking to take its institutional business to the next level.

Overall Nikko AM has $158 billion in assets under management as of March 31, of which institutional clients accounts for about 30% of assets and retail for 70%, according to a company spokesperson.

Drews will be responsible for developing Nikko AM’s institutional offering and will work closely with its investment, operational and distribution teams globally.

Working beneath Koyama, she will work closely with the firm’s institutional sales teams in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and US.

Prior to Barclays, Drews worked as a managing director in Morgan Stanley’s private wealth management business, where she ran an investment management programme for institutional clients and high-net-worth individuals.

A spokesperson for Barclays did not respond to AsianInvestor queries by press time on whether Drews had been replaced.