One of the largest US banks has named a country executive for Japan.

BNY Mellon, the US banking and financial services firm, has appointed Douglas Hymas as country executive for Japan and general manager of the company’s Tokyo branch.

He replaces Thom Fisher who left BNY Mellon earlier this year; Fisher has subsequently relocated to London. Hymas will be the chief strategist, leader and senior representative for the company’s business groups with regulators and clients. He will report to Gregory Roath, Asia-Pacific head of global client management.

He has 20 years of experience in the investment management and investment services industry. He was most recently president and chief executive officer of ING Mutual Funds Investment Company (Japan), having previously held senior management roles at Wells Fargo Securities (Japan), Legg Mason Asset Management Japan, Barclays Global Investors and Lehman Brothers.

“Doug’s strong background in Japanese investment management and investment services perfectly matches BNY Mellon’s business model for Japan,” said Roath in a statement yesterday.

“The Japanese market has by far the largest pool of assets under management in Asia-Pacific, with analysts indicating AUM could surpass $5 trillion by 2016. This presents tremendous opportunities for our continuing growth as the investments company for the world,” said Steve Lackey, BNY Mellon Asia-Pacific chairman.

BNY Mellon has been serving Japanese institutions for almost 100 years and launched BNY Mellon Asset Management Japan in 1998.