Asia

JAPAN - Chuo Mitsui Asset Trust and Banking has emerged as the Government Pension Investment Fund's (GPIF) largest external manager over the past year, while AXA Rosenberg has disappeared from the list.

BlackRock hires NEST's Gilbody; Aviva Investors; Liongate; Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System of Iowa; Ignis; HSBC Asset Management; Towers Watson; Acadian; Cardano; LGIM; Mercer

US/ASIA - HSBC Global Asset Management has named Deborah Hazell regional head of North America and Bill Maldonado Asia-Pacific chief investment officer in a move to bolster its emerging markets business.

JAPAN - UK hedge fund manager Quality Capital Management (QCM) has opened an office in Tokyo as part of plans to grow its Asia Pacific business.

SOUTH KOREA - The National Pension Service is understood to be investing 250bn won ($234.3m) into a Korean-led consortium for its project to buy golfing equipment brand Titleist, according to reports.

ASIA/NETHERLANDS - Robeco has appointed Tony Edwards as chief executive officer of its Asia Pacific business.

ASIA - Asian infrastructure represents one of the best routes to capturing growth in the region's buoyant economies, J.P. Morgan Asset Management believes.

KOREA - The $37bn Korea Investment Corporation has chosen three FTSE non-capitalisation weighted indexing strategies making it the first Korean institutional investor to take this route, according to the FTSE Group.

ASIA - Asian debt is replacing US Treasuries for institutional investors in the region, but developed market pension funds remain underexposed to the asset class, Baring Asset Management believes.

ASIA - Schroders has appointed Western Asset Management's Rajeev De Mello as head of Asian fixed income.