Wealth management industry veteran Kevin Hardy has been appointed by financial technology firm additiv to head its Asian operations based in Singapore.

Hardy, a former managing director at BlackRock and Northern Trust, succeeds Dario Bernasconi, who occupied the post in an interim capacity and now returns to his role as group head of operations and partners, the company said in a release.

Hardy has more than 25 years of experience in the asset and wealth management sector.

He worked for many years as an investment and fund manager at Legal & General and then at State Street, before joining Northern Trust as managing director and Asia-Pacific head for Northern Trust General Investments.

More recently, Hardy was head of Singapore and head of ETF and Index Investments in Asia-Pacific for BlackRock.

Additiv, a leading SaaS (software as a service) provider for the wealth management industry, says Hardy's appointment underscores the importance of the Asian market to the group. The region is its second-largest market after Europe It says it is investing strongly to take advantage of the growth in the region as well as capitalize on the success it has enjoyed with clients such as Commonwealth Bank in Indonesia.