BlackRock Hires Former RBC Executive to Head Canadian Operations -- Update

By Ben Dummett 

BlackRock Inc. on Thursday appointed Marcia Moffat to head its Canadian operations, betting the executive's experience in the local retail investment sector will help the fund giant grow in the Canadian market.

New York-based BlackRock is expected to announce the appointment later Thursday.

Ms. Moffat most recently ran a management consulting firm focused on the financial-services sector. Before that she spent 12 years as an executive at Royal Bank of Canada, most recently serving as head of the lender's retail-banking division.

She succeeds Noel Archard, who is leaving the money manager after heading the Canadian operations for three years.

BlackRock oversees about $135.6 billion in assets in Canada through its offerings to retail and institutional investors of its iShares Exchange Traded Funds, mutual funds and fixed-income products, making it one of Canada's largest money managers. Globally, BlackRock's assets under management total $4.721 trillion. Its biggest operations are in the U.S., but it also operates in Europe, Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Africa.

In Canada, BlackRock is best known for its ETFs. Mr. Archard focused on diversifying the money manager's product portfolio into fixed income and alternative funds to win business as Canadian lender Bank of Montreal and other players entered the ETF market.

Now it's betting on Ms. Moffat's knowledge of Canada's retail financial-services sector to spearhead new initiatives as Canadians face increasing pressure to boost savings to help them meet their retirement needs.

Ms. Moffat's "deep roots in the Canadian retail sector of the financial services industry positions her, and the firm, well for the next leg of growth in Canada, Robert Fairbairn, BlackRock's senior management director, said.

Write to Ben Dummett at [e-mail]

Access Investor Kit for BlackRock, Inc.

Visit http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US09247X1019

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires