The Asian part of the Canada-headquartered group has made two major appointments for its wealth management business.

Manulife Asset Management has created the new roles of chief marketing officer for wealth and asset management for Asia and chief financial officer for the same business segment, signalling an expansion drive in the space. 

Grace Ho takes up the chief marketing officer role and Frederick Reidenbach becomes CFO. 

Prior to joining Manulife Asset Management, Ho was the head of marketing, Asia-Pacific, for Schroders in Hong Kong. Previously, she held various key marketing management positions with leading financial institutes in Asia, Canada-headquartered Manulife said in a statement yesterday. 

Reidenbach is an industry veteran with 32 years of professional experience. He previously spent 10 years with Nikko Asset Management in Japan where he was CFO and chief operating officer, Japan. Prior to this, he held several senior roles with Fidelity Worldwide Investments in Japan. Reidenbach also worked at Smith Barney after having begun his career with Coopers & Lybrand in New York.

The duo’s arrival comes after the recent appointments of Shirley Lam as head of affiliate wealth and Bruno Lee as head of partnership, product and platform development for wealth and asset management, Asia. 

Separately, the vice-president for Manulife Asset Management’s investment funds operation in Hong Kong, Steve Chiu, is leaving the firm at the end of the month, a spokesperson for Manulife in Asia confirmed to this publication. 

As at 30 June 2015, assets under management for Manulife Asset Management were approximately $313 billion.