The Japanese asset management titan has named a long-serving senior manager - and regular TV pundit - as its lead strategist.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group, the investment house with $430 billion assets under management, has appointed Katsunori Kitakura as lead strategist based in its Tokyo headquarters. He takes over from Genzo Kimura, following his new economist and strategist position at Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund.

In his new role, Kitakura will be responsible for providing market research and analysis for the firm on a global scale. He has covered global markets for over 24 years.

Kitakura joined SuMi TRUST in 1984. He started his career as a proprietary trader holding various positions within the firm worldwide, including the London unit and the market making and global markets unit.

His latest role was as associate general manager of the global markets business planning department. Kitakura was a member of the Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market Committee from 2006 to 2012. He was also a regular forex commentator on Morning Satellite (2002-2009), a live TV business news programme in Japan.

(To see a story from last year about the company, click here.)