Additiv is hiring Blackrock's former Singapore chief. He is the third big hire in three years from traditional finance firms to oversee its activities in Asia.
The Zurich-based financial technology firm is hiring Kevin Hardy to run its business in Asia, effective immediately, it said in a statement on Thursday. Hardy is a former managing director at Blackrock, where he was country head in Singapore and also oversaw the U.S. asset management giant's beta strategies in the wider Asia-Pacific region.
Founder and CEO Michael Stemmle has assembled a roster of executives from traditional finance in a bid to offer so-called «wealth management as a service,» where banks can draw their digital wealth management platform services from Additiv at the push of a button. They include strategy chief Christine Schmid, a former managing director at Credit Suisse.
Second-Largest Market
Hardy, who is British, has consulted independently for the last two years. Previously, he worked for Northern Trust, State Street, and Legal & General as well as advised FTSE Russel. Asia is Additiv’s second-largest market after Europe and the wealth fintech has found success with the likes of Commonwealth Bank in Indonesia.
Additiv's top job in Asia has passed through several people in recent years: Adrian Weiss was poached from Citi two years ago, but is now the company's operating chief in Zurich. The 22-year-old company then tapped ex-Credit Suisse banker Bert-Jan van Essen for the Asia job, but van Essen is also now in Zurich as its head of business development. Recently, operations head Dario Bernasconi had been standing in as head of Asia.
