Russell Investments, an Australia-based financial services firm, has announced several appointments to its Asian executive team, in a bid to address growing business demand.

Edmund Teo, previously the head of sales and business development at First State, joins as regional director, sales and marketing. In his new role, the Singapore-based Teo will lead business development activities for both institutional and retail customers and hold a senior leadership role in the regional management team.

In Taiwan, Joey Chao-Yu Chen has been named director, business development, where he will be responsible for the firm's onshore activities, marketing and client service, as well as working with global operations on the development of new funds. Chen has 17 years of experience in the financial services industry having assumed key roles at the likes of Fidelity Investments and Morgan Stanley.

The other appointments follow from Russell's recent decision to split its regional operations into three sub-regions. Mahendran Nathan has been appointed chief executive for ASEAN, Hong Kong, Taiwan and India. DongKi Kim, who joins from Korea Life, is now chief representative in the Korea office. He replaces Yuseok Kim who has just been promoted to director, Korea.

"These appointments are a significant step in Russell's evolution in Asia and will help our organisation better service a growing client base," said Alan Schoenheimer, the firm's chairman for Asia-Pacific.

More appointments and expansion announcements are expected over the next 12 months, the company said.