Northern Trust has named Alvin Chia from Bain and Company as its new head of digital assets innovation for Asia Pacific.
Chia will be responsible for delivering innovations aligned to Northern Trust’s digital asset strategy to clients across the Asia-Pacific region, and will report into Justin Chapman, global head of Digital Assets and Financial Markets.
Northern Trust said he will collaborate closely with industry bodies, fintechs, regulators and government entities to positively influence market change.
Chia was most recently the senior manager of innovation at Bain and Company. Prior to this, he was the vice president of innovation at DBS Bank.
He will operate under Northern Trust’s new digital assets and financial markets group which was established in June 2022, unifying its digital and traditional market functions across its asset servicing business.
Chia holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from the National University of Singapore, where he is currently completing a doctoral degree in digital innovation.
According to his LinkedIn, Chia also authored a book titled Hackathons Unboxed: A Field Guide To Ideating, Leading and Winning.
“We continue to see the pace of innovation continuing across the funds administration and custody sector, with the APAC region experiencing a transformational period of change in light of new technologies,” said Chapman. “We are pleased to appoint Alvin to this new role, leveraging his deep skills in fintech to help us continue to drive change and support our clients’ requirements.”