Canadian multinational bank, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), has picked a Kenyan as the first Black chief executive officer of its US assets management business.

The bank has picked Mr. Donald Sanya who was born and raised in Nairobi to lead one of its most critical businesses in the world. Mr. Sanya will take over from Mike Lee who is retiring at the end of July.

Mr. Sanya will now report to Damon Williams who is the chief executive of the RBC’s overall global asset management business. The business, which is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, has $453 billion (Sh. 59 trillion) worth of assets under its management.

“We are seeing a lot of appetite for fixed income just given that the interest-rate environment that we have is such that investors are able to generate much more return on the fixed-income side,” Sanya said to the media upon his appointment. He first joined the bank in 2014.

Prior to taking on this role, Mr. Sanya was the head of the RBC’s US Distribution. He is also member of the Royal Bank of Canada GAM Leadership Committee, the US Executive Committee, and the North America Management Committee. Sanya is registered as an Associated Person and Branch Manager with the National Futures Association.

Prior to joining the organization in 2014, he was responsible for developing and managing relationships for a major asset management firm’s Institutional Client Business group, where he assisted investors with portfolio allocations across traditional and alternative asset classes.

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Donald Sanya began his career in the financial industry in 2005. He earned a BA in economics, business and mathematics from Gordon College and holds FINRA Series 7 and 63 licenses. He is a CFA charter-holder and a member of the Boston Security Analysts Society (BSAS). He is also registered as an Associated Person and Branch Manager with the National Futures Association.