Nikko Asset Management has hired four seasoned executives in New York, Tokyo and the United Kingdom to bolster the company’s institutional sales and marketing functions.

Fred DeSerio, based in New York, has been named head of sales in the US. He will be responsible for developing business in the institutional investment market in North America. He joined the Tokyo-based asset manager’s US arm from Invesco where he was a managing director. He previously worked for firms including Segal Advisors, American International Group and Smith Barney.

“We are very pleased to have DeSerio join Nikko Asset Management,” said Takuya Koyama, executive vice president and global head of sales. “His experience will help us accelerate our global expansion in the institutional market.”

In the company’s institutional marketing and proposition division, which acts as a link between product and institutional sales, Nikko Asset Management hired three professionals with strong international backgrounds.

Peter Knight joined the company as head of global product specialists. Knight, based in Tokyo, will help drive the global sales effort by helping the firm articulate its product messaging from an investment perspective. He most recently worked as a business development manager in Japanese equities at BNY Mellon, having previously worked for Citigroup Asset Management Japan.

Daisuke Kono, based in Tokyo, has been named head of international institutional materials. Kono is creating a centre of excellence in Tokyo specialising in creating materials for sophisticated international clients and prospects. He was previously a director of Invesco Asset Management’s product management section.

Cameron Kuwahara joined the company as head of solutions marketing based in Edinburgh, Scotland, where Nikko Asset Management has a global equity team. He will be working in Edinburgh and the company’s full-service European headquarters in London, as well as its New York office. 

Kuwahara was previously a senior sales director for Citigroup Global Markets in Singapore. He also worked for Bank of America/Merrill Lynch Securities and Deutsche Securities Tokyo.

“We are extremely pleased that Knight, Kono and Kuwahara are joining Nikko Asset Management, all of whom have extremely high-quality backgrounds and are bilingual,” said Stefanie Drews, global head of institutional marketing and proposition. “These hires show our commitment to elevating our position in the institutional marketplace, both within Japan and globally.”