WisdomTree, a leading global provider of exchange-traded funds, has announced the opening of its Tokyo-based subsidiary, WisdomTree Japan. The newly established unit completed its Type 1 Financial Instruments Business registration with the Kanto Local Finance Bureau of Japan’s Ministry of Finance and officially began operations on 16 February 2016. The firm will seek to attract business from institutional clients in the region.

Jesper Koll, CEO of WisdomTree Japan.

The unit will be headed up by Jesper Koll who joined from JP Morgan Chase & Co in 2015 after running the firm’s equity research team in Tokyo for more than five years.

Junichi Kamitsubo, formerly Head of iShares Japan, will lead the firm’s sales team while Atsushi Yamamoto will serve as Chief Compliance Officer.

Jonathan Steinberg, CEO and President of WisdomTree, commented: “WisdomTree manages roughly $12.7 bn in Japan-focused strategies today and we are excited to further build upon our focus in this dynamic and attractive market.  We have assembled a highly experienced team led by Jesper Koll who has nearly three decades of experience advising Japanese, US and global investors.”

Koll added: “We are pleased that we can now directly communicate with Japanese institutional clients of WisdomTree ETFs and extend WisdomTree’s unique, research-driven ETF strategies to institutional investors seeking new, innovative and cost-effective solutions in investment markets worldwide.

“WisdomTree is not only confident in the Japanese equity market’s recovery under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration; we see a significant and sustainable shift in the way  Japan’s corporate sector allocates capital, and ultimately how a nation of Japanese savers will invest. We are deeply committed to being a leader in Japan’s investment renaissance.”