Leo Seewald

Biography

Leo Seewald is the current President and the former Chairperson of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei.

His back professional background in Asia spans 20 years as a financial services industry though leader having held senior leadership positions in asset management and insurance companies.

Mr. Seewald moved to Hong Kong in 2000 and practiced law with the Canadian firm, Goodmans, specializing in corporate commercial and securities law with an emphasis on cross-border transactions and direct investment into China.

He joined Manulife Financial as the Asia head of Legal and Compliance in 2006, covering

10 Asian jurisdictions.  He oversaw the acquisition of Manulife’s 49% interest in its asset management joint venture in China; the disposition of its 49% interest its John Hancock life insurance joint venture in China (the first sale of a foreign JV interest to a wholly owned Chinese entity); as well as, the acquisition of Manulife’s asset management company in Taiwan.

In 2009, Mr. Seewald moved to Taiwan to take on a management role as Chairman of Manulife’s asset management company and Deputy General Manager of Manulife’s life insurance operation in Taiwan. In addition to introducing numerous innovative products to the Taiwan market, he also played a key role in the sale of Manulife Taiwan’s life insurance branch to ChinaTrust in 2013.

From 2016 to 2019, Mr. Seewald was Chairman and Country Head of BlackRock Investment Management (Taiwan) Co., Limited.  During this time, he grew BlackRock’s Taiwan sourced assets from US$20 billion to over US$30 billion and transformed the company from what was primarily a mutual fund distribution operation to a fully integrated asset management company with a range of onshore funds.  He worked with the regulator and industry associations to help modernize and improve Taiwan’s financial regulatory environment and was recognized for these contributions by being granted Taiwanese Citizenship.

Mr. Seewald has a Bachelor of Law Degree from the University Alberta as well as Bachelor of Business Degree from Simon Fraser University. Mr. Seewald is qualified as a solicitor in Hong Kong and as a barrister and solicitor in British Columbia, Canada.

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