iShares pulls new head from Citi

Blackrock has appointed Citi's APAC managing director and head of ETF as their new head of iShares Asia Pacific.

The Hong Kong-based Rimmo Jolly has been with Citi for nearly 18 years in a variety of roles, the last two and a half years as managing director. HE started in 2002 as the director of sales for Prime Finance.

Before joining Citi, Jolly was a vice president with Deutsche Bank/Bankers Trust for nearly six years, looking after equity structured products, delivering solutions for hedge funds and pension endowments.

In a statement, iShares said that Jolly will work with the company's regional and global networks to create innovative local product offerings.

"Rimmo is a highly-respected finance industry veteran and brings a wealth of experience to our ETF business development and distribution," said Susan Chan, head of iShares.

"The recent extreme risk-off market environment has showcased the underlying strength of ETFs", said Chan. "I look forward to working with Rimmo 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."

Jolly said that he's excited to join the team bringing ETFs to BlackRock's clients. "The transparency of ETFs has proven valuable to investors especially during times of stress.

"I'm very excited to join the team in bringing ETFs into BlackRock clients' investment making process. With ongoing education and outreach to the industry, regulators, and our clients on ETF application, iShares is well positioned to capture the tremendous growth potential in Asia Pacific with the broadest line-up of products in the ETF industry."