Lazard Japan Poaches New CEO From JP Morgan

Vanessa Doctor

1 April 2010

Lazard Japan Asset Management has appointed Keiichi Miki as chief executive officer.

Miki was previously the head of JP Morgan Asset Management (Japan), a position he held for the past eight years. He takes over from Tim Griffen, who has been acting as both CEO and chief investment officer.

In Miki's new role, he will be responsible for the servicing, expansion, and distribution of LAM's domestic and international products to the Japanese market. Griffen, on the other hand, is freed from the CEO post but will continue to serve as CIO, with special responsibility over the group's Japanese equity strategies.

"With our increased presence in the region, we felt we needed to hire a dedicated chief executive, leaving Tim Griffen to focus solely on our Japanese equity capabilities and, therefore, function in a pure CIO role," said Robert Prugue, the Asia Pacific head, in a statement.

LAM and its affiliates under parent firm Lazard Group reported $129.5 billion worth of assets under management as of December 2009, $3.4 billion of which are accounted for by Japan operations.