BlackRock has appointed Rachel Lord from Citigroup as new head of iShares in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to replace Joe Linhares as he returns to the US.
A number of smaller investment trusts have been forced to cancel expansion plans as larger vehicles continue to dominate the market.
Aberdeen Asset Management has confirmed rumours it is in talks to buy Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) in a deal which would make it the largest listed fund management firm in Europe.
Buyers fear increased stock-specific risk as active EM funds run high weightings to developed markets.
Martha Wang, manager of the £2.2bn Fidelity China Focus fund, is taking a career break, with Fidelity hiring BlackRock's Jing Ning to run its flagship China fund.
iShares has streamlined its European ETF range and significantly reduced fees on a range of funds following the acquisition of Credit Suisse's ETF arm earlier this year.