Threadneedle to open in Japan and Taiwan

British fund manager Threadneedle plans to double its staff in Asia and open new offices in Japan and Taiwan as part of efforts to grow its regional presence, newly appointed Asia-Pacific chairman Raymundo Yu said.

‘The first stage will involve distribution and marketing, then analysis, then investment management,"’ said Yu, who was chairman for the Asia Pacific region at Merrill Lynch from July 2000 until his retirement in December 2008.

Yu, 55, added that the new offices in Japan and Taiwan would help complement Threadneedle’s existing operations in Hong Kong and Singapore and double staffing to around 30 from 15 in the next 12 months.

Threadneedle, which manages around $100 billion in assets, is a unit of US financial services firm Ameriprise Financial. Ameriprise also owns US based Columbia, which has about $350 billion. The Threadneedle operations in Asia will market Columbia's asset management services.