Franklin Templeton has announced the appointment of Yu Qing to the newly created role of managing director and head of China. Yu will be responsible for providing overall leadership and strategic direction for the firm's mainland China business and building an asset management business, focusing on public investments. Based initially in Beijing, Yu will also work from the firm's Shanghai office.

She will report to Ben Meng, executive vice-president and chairman of Asia Pacific. Yu has more than 30 years' experience in government and financial services roles in China. Before joining Franklin Templeton, she was most recently chair of Nomura Orient International Securities and managing director at Nomura Securities in China.

She was previously group vice-president at China Reinsurance Group, and has also worked at China's Ministry of Finance.