Chuo Mitsui Trust International, the global arm of Chuo Mitsui Trust and Banking, Japan’s second largest trust bank, is expanding its investment management offering to private clients outside Japan with the launch of its London office.

Chuo Mitsui Trust International will focus initially on offering investment services to institutional and multi-manager markets in Europe and the Middle East. The multi-lingual team will offer investors a range of Japanese bond and equity investment strategies anchored around proprietary research.

The investment management will be provided by the firm’s 170 strong investment team. Chuo Mitsui’s cross disciplinary approach is based around connected teams of portfolio managers, corporate, credit, quantitative and economic analysts, as well as traders and risk management professionals providing investment solutions tailored to clients needs.

“The launch of Chuo Mitsui Trust International in London forms part of our wider global growth strategy. We offer investment strategies, with the key advantage of having a deep infrastructure and network across Japan,”said Christopher Renwick, director and head of sales and marketing at Chuo Mitsui.

“We aim to educate the EMEA market on the opportunities and ongoing benefits available from Japanese investment and look forward to working with strategic partners across the region, to expand our presence,” he added.

“It’s an interesting time to be launching our international branch in London. Japan is reaching the other side of its ‘lost decade’, just as the West is heading further into a turbulent unknown economic climate, said Daisuke Ishihara, a portfolio specialist at the new office.

“There are key lessons investors can learn from the country’s experience over the last ten years or so and we’re ideally placed to advise pension funds, multi-managers and institutions on the strategies and processes they can utilise, to help them through these difficult times,” he added.

Chuo Mitsui Trust is one of Japan’s largest institutional investment managers (though private clients may access its services through it multi-manager platform) with $232 billion in assets under management.