© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A trader acts as a monitor displaying trading information for BlackRock on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, US, October 14, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDiarmid
by Selina Lee
HONG KONG (Reuters) – The head of China business at BlackRock (NYSE) Tony Tang will leave the asset manager, the company said on Tuesday, after playing a key role in expanding operations in the world’s second-largest economy. .
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, said Tang had “expressed interest in exploring opportunities” outside the company, in a statement in response to a Reuters query.
The company said Susan Chan, BlackRock’s vice president of Asia Pacific and president of Greater China, now directly oversees its onshore business in China. Chan is a member of the US company’s global executive committee.
“China represents an important opportunity for BlackRock to contribute to the financial future of a new generation of investors,” the company said.
A former Chinese securities regulator, Tang started as head of BlackRock’s China business in 2019 and was a senior aide to CEO Larry Fink.
Tang did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
During Tang’s tenure as Chairman of China, BlackRock established a wholly owned money management unit in China and a joint venture with China Construction Bank (OTC:) and Temasek to provide wealth management services to Chinese investors.
China contributes only a tiny fraction of BlackRock’s total assets globally. The New York-based company finished the first quarter with $9.1 trillion in assets under management, down from $9.57 trillion a year earlier.