BlackRock appoints head of iShares

BlackRock has appointed Mark Oliver as head of its iShares exchange traded fund (ETF) business in Australia, reporting to Nick Good, head of iShares Asia Pacific and BlackRock Australia chief executive Damien Frawley.

Oliver was most recently head of strategic partnerships at BlackRock, and has led the firm's institutional and intermediary distribution efforts and overseen consultant and research house relationships since he joined in 2008.

"Demand for ETFs in Australia is increasing at a rapid pace as investors' awareness and understanding of ETFs grow," Oliver said.

"The local iShares business is entering its next phase with the launch of four new Australian ETFs on the [Australian Securities Exchange] shortly. As the leading family of ETFs globally, we will continue to expand the breadth and depth of our product range in Australia to meet the growing demands of investors."

The four new ETFs will increase iShares' offering to 23 ETFs listed on the ASX across domestic and international indices, according to BlackRock.

iShares provides over 460 funds trading on 19 exchanges worldwide, and has around US$534 billion in ETF assets, BlackRock stated.