American Century Investments is strengthening its Asia-Pacific strategy with the appointment of Nigel Stewart as Managing Director and Head of Asia Pacific, a move that puts experienced regional distribution leadership behind the asset manager’s growing ETF and investment-platform ambitions. Based in Sydney, Stewart will oversee the region for the US$350 billion global asset manager and report to Eduardo Repetto, CIO of Avantis Investors.

American Century Bets on Asia-Pacific as ETF Competition Intensifies

For global asset managers, Asia-Pacific is becoming less of a geographic extension and more of a strategic growth market. American Century Investments is responding by putting a veteran of Australia’s investment industry in charge of its regional operations.

The firm announced Thursday that Nigel Stewart has joined American Century Investments as Managing Director and Head of Asia Pacific, based in Sydney. Stewart previously served as an executive director at Dimensional Fund Advisors and co-founded DFA Australia in 1994. He will report to Eduardo Repetto, CIO of Avantis Investors, American Century’s investment offering.

The appointment comes as American Century expands the availability of its investment products across Asia-Pacific, particularly through Avantis Investors, its actively managed ETF and investment-strategy platform.

The strategic question is not simply how many products an asset manager can launch. It is increasingly about distribution, local market access, adviser relationships and the technology required to deliver investment products through multiple channels.

Why the appointment matters

American Century has been operating in Australia for years, but Avantis only entered the Australian market in September 2025 with three dual-access ETFs: Avantis Small Cap Value Active ETF (AVTS), Avantis Global Equity Active ETF (AVTG) and Avantis Emerging Markets Equity Active ETF (AVTE). The products are available through both exchange-traded and off-market channels for eligible investors.

That structure reflects a broader evolution in asset management.

Traditional mutual funds and ETFs are increasingly being integrated into the same distribution architecture. Advisers want diversified, transparent products, while investors increasingly expect digital access, competitive fees and flexible implementation.

Avantis positions its approach between conventional passive indexing and traditional active management. Its strategies seek the diversification, transparency and relatively low turnover associated with indexing while using systematic investment decisions to pursue additional returns.

That puts the platform into an increasingly competitive field alongside ETF and asset-management ecosystems operated by firms such as BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, Fidelity and JPMorgan Asset Management. Meanwhile, technology infrastructure from companies such as Microsoft, Google and NVIDIA is changing how financial institutions analyze data, automate workflows and deliver digital investment experiences.

Stewart’s regional remit therefore extends beyond simply selling funds. His background gives American Century an executive with decades of experience in Australia’s adviser and investment ecosystem at a time when asset managers are competing for both institutional mandates and digitally enabled wealth channels.

Asia-Pacific becomes a bigger wealth-management battleground

The underlying market opportunity is significant.

McKinsey estimates that global assets under management reached $147 trillion by the end of June 2025, while Asia-Pacific recorded a 4.2% organic growth rate through the first half of that year. The consultancy has also identified Asia-Pacific as an increasingly important market for digital wealth platforms and technology-enabled investment services.

McKinsey’s earlier analysis projected approximately $81 trillion in onshore personal financial assets in Asia-Pacific by 2027, alongside roughly $1 trillion in potential wealth-management revenue pools across the region.

Those numbers help explain why global asset managers are expanding local distribution capabilities rather than relying exclusively on cross-border product sales.

For American Century, Australia is an important starting point. But Stewart’s title — Head of Asia Pacific — suggests a broader regional mandate encompassing markets with very different regulatory environments, investor preferences and distribution models.

From product expansion to local investment infrastructure

The next stage of competition in asset management is increasingly about accessibility.

Avantis’ Australian launch illustrates this trend. Its dual-access structure allows eligible investors to use an exchange-traded route while also retaining an off-market fund access point. That can make a strategy more adaptable to different adviser and portfolio-construction workflows.

For wealth managers and financial advisers, the implication is straightforward: investment products increasingly need to fit existing portfolio-management infrastructure rather than operate as isolated securities.

That also creates technology requirements around portfolio construction, trading, reporting, compliance and client servicing. Asset managers competing in the region must increasingly coordinate product platforms with digital distribution and adviser technology.

Gartner’s research into investment-services technology highlights a continuing gap between the importance of technology to investment businesses and the pace at which firms deploy it. That gap creates an opportunity for asset managers that can combine investment capability with efficient digital delivery.

What it means for enterprise investment teams

For institutional investors, advisers and wealth platforms, Stewart’s appointment is unlikely to change portfolio decisions overnight. Its significance is more strategic.

American Century now has a senior regional executive responsible for translating its global investment capabilities into local markets. That could mean more locally tailored products, stronger adviser relationships and broader distribution of Avantis strategies.

The firm says Avantis now manages about $160 billion and offers more than 40 strategies across equities, fixed income, real estate and target-date funds, with products available in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. American Century itself has approximately 1,400 employees globally.

For competitors, the appointment is another indication that Asia-Pacific remains a critical battleground for ETF growth and technology-enabled wealth management.

For investors, the more important question will be whether global managers can translate scale into genuinely local products, competitive costs and efficient adviser access.

Stewart’s appointment gives American Century a veteran regional operator to help make that transition.

Market Landscape

The appointment arrives against three overlapping trends in financial technology and asset management:

• ETF adoption is reshaping distribution. Asset managers increasingly use ETFs as both investment products and digital distribution vehicles, while dual-access structures broaden how advisers and investors can access strategies.
• Asia-Pacific is becoming a major wealth-management growth engine. McKinsey estimates Asia-Pacific generated a 4.2% organic growth rate in asset management through June 2025, while its longer-term research points to substantial expansion in regional personal financial assets.
• Technology is becoming part of investment distribution. Portfolio construction, digital onboarding, trading, reporting and adviser workflows increasingly depend on integrated technology rather than standalone fund products.
• The competitive set is broadening. American Century and Avantis compete indirectly and directly with large ETF providers including BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, Fidelity and JPMorgan, while fintech and WealthTech platforms increasingly influence how products reach investors.
• Local expertise remains important. Regulatory requirements, adviser networks and investor preferences vary substantially across Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and other Asia-Pacific markets.

Top Insights

• American Century appointed Nigel Stewart to lead Asia-Pacific, adding veteran Australian investment-market expertise as Avantis expands regional ETF distribution.
• Avantis’ dual-access ETF model gives eligible Australian investors exchange-traded and off-market access, connecting investment products with different adviser workflows.
• Asia-Pacific’s growing wealth pool is attracting global asset managers seeking ETF, WealthTech and digitally enabled distribution opportunities across multiple markets.
• Stewart’s remit arrives as asset managers compete on distribution infrastructure, local relationships, product breadth and technology-enabled investor experiences.
• American Century’s regional strategy could increase competition among global ETF providers seeking adviser, institutional and digitally distributed assets across Asia-Pacific.

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