Aberdeen Asset Management has named Peter Elston as head of Asia-Pacific strategy and asset allocation, reflecting the firm's focus on Asia as a growth region for decades ahead.

Elston has spent four years at Aberdeen as an Asian investment strategist based in Singapore. He will now report to Singapore-based Hugh Young, who is head of the firm’s Asian business, and Mike Turner, head of global strategy and asset allocation based in Edinburgh.

“The case for broad investment exposure to Asia is a simple and compelling one. Aberdeen already has strong track records in the key underlying asset classes of Asian equity, fixed income and property, around which we will continue to grow multi-asset products,” said Elston.

Aberdeen’s Asian equity and fixed-income teams will continue to manage the underlying asset classes, into which existing multi-asset mandates feed, the firm said in a statement.

Elston has been a member of the global strategy team - led by Turner - and a member of the Aberdeen Global II Asia Pacific Multi-Asset fund tactical asset allocation team since 2009. In his newly-created role he will work closely with members of Aberdeen's Asian equity and fixed income teams.

Elston started his career in 1988 at Mercury Asset Management. During his 11 years at Mercury he managed Asian equity funds from Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore.