BlackRock Expands To Asia Pacific Region While Waiting For SEC's Bitcoin ETF Approval

JAKARTA - BlackRock Inc, a leading investment management company, has announced two important appointments in its expansion efforts in the Asia Pacific region. How come Lui has been appointed head of Greater China Wealth, while Dennis Quah is head of Singapore Wealth.

Badminton Lui will manage relationships with distributors in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China offshore. His duties include building strategic relationships with major distributors and ensuring that BlackRock clients in the region can access various investment capabilities. Howl Lui previously served as head of wealth and retail distribution at the Baring Asset Management.

Meanwhile, Dennis Quah will focus on building relationships with consumer banks, private banks, and insurance companies. He will also help build a client portfolio with specialists in the company.

Dennis Quah has had twenty years of experience in asset management distribution, with a track record of his career including companies such as Columbia Threadnedle, Amundi, OCBC Bank, and Schroders.

James Raby, head of Apac's fortunes BlackRock, positively welcomedTEN's and Dennis's arrival into the company. He acknowledged their deep local market understanding and expertise in helping clients build portfolios as valuable assets in meeting investor needs in today's growing market environment.

The change in BlackRock's Asia-Pacific team also accompanies other changes, including the departure of Nicholas Chiu, who was previously a co-manager of several BlackRock investment funds.

BlackRock, with its head office in New York, has 78 offices spread across 36 countries. The company manages assets worth about $9.09 trillion (IDR 136 quadrillion) in the first quarter of 2023. In the coming years, estimates show that the company's assets can reach more than 15 trillion US dollars (IDR 224 quadrillion), mainly with an expansion into the Asian market.

On the other hand, changes to the Asia-Pacific team BlackRock occurred at an important time, namely waiting for a decision from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the company's Bitcoin ETF application. BlackRock has submitted an application to launch the iShares Bitcoin Trust, which if approved, will be the first Bitcoin ETF in the United States. This could open up access to around 30 trillion US dollars (Rp449 quadrillion) in capital to the Bitcoin market.

This SEC decision has become highly anticipated, as previously many Bitcoin spot ETF applications from large companies have been rejected over the past decade. Applications from BlackRock are expected to be a milestone in obtaining approval from the government for Bitcoin ETF.

Joshua Chu, chairman of blockchain technology group XBE, Coinllectibles, and Marvion, stated that this step shows the resilience of public interest in crypto and could be a positive development in an effort to gain approval from the government.

"The fact that BlackRock, a respected and established asset management company, has proposed a Bitcoin ETF can be seen as a positive development in an effort to obtain approval from the government. It also shows the resilience of public interest in crypto," said Joshua Chu, quoted by CoinSpeaker.

If approved, iShares Bitcoin Trust will be listed on the Nasdaq exchange and will be fully supported by BTC, with a pricing based on the CF CME Bitcoin Reference Rate. This will open up great opportunities for the Bitcoin market with the potential to access funds of 30 trillion US dollars (Rp450 quadrillion).