Hiroyuki Shimizu was named BlackRock's head of institutional for the Asia-Pacific region.
The position is a new one, said a spokeswoman for the firm.
Mr. Shimizu will join BlackRock in Hong Kong during the second quarter and take on the additional role of president of BlackRock Japan, assisting Hiroyuki Arita, CEO, representative director and head of Japan, in serving BlackRock's Japan client business.
The spokeswoman said the president role isn't new but she pointed to Yoshiyuki Izawa, currently the chair of BlackRock Japan, as the executive Mr. Shimizu will effectively be replacing when Mr. Izawa retires at the end of March after almost seven years with the firm.
Mr. Shimizu will work with "country leadership, investment and other business teams to oversee product and client distribution across all institutional investors," a news release said.
He comes to BlackRock from Morgan Stanley Investment Management in Tokyo, where he served as global co-head of private credit and equity distribution, head of Japan and Korea, as well as president and representative director of Japan.
A Morgan Stanley spokesman said replacements for those roles will be announced in due course.
BlackRock's Jan. 14tannouncement of its results through Dec. 31, 2021 showed 7% of the firm's $10 trillion in assets under management, or roughly $700 billion, being managed on behalf of Asia-Pacific clients. The BlackRock spokeswoman declined to say how much of that total was managed on behalf of institutional clients.
