State StreetÆs new man in Tokyo

Eric Michel, president and representative director at State Street Japan in Tokyo, has just transferred to Paris, to be replaced by Mark Lazberger. Michel is returning to Europe to spearhead the firm's distribution effort of fund products. He oversaw a massive expansion of State Street Global Advisor's business in Japan, buoyed by the recent popularity of indexing by leading corporate and public pension funds. For the past three or four years, SSGA's assets under management in Japan grew as much as 70%, and the firm today manages about $20 billion there.