The Chinese firm has appointed a former Citigroup employee, who worked for the company for 18 years and was most recently global head of retail banking.

Ping An Insurance, company of China, has appointed Jonathan Larsen as chief innovation officer and chief executive of Ping An Global Voyager Fund.

The new $1 billion fund will invest in fintech and healthtech opportunities globally ex-China.  Ping An Global Voyager Fund will be managed from Hong Kong, the firm said yesterday in a statement.

Larsen will be responsible for bringing new technologies, platforms and business models to the firm’s businesses in China and internationally. He will also seek to exploit Ping An’s technology to boost the value of the fund-invested companies.

He has nearly 30 years’ experience in the industry and spent 18 years at Citigroup, where he was most recent global head of retail banking. His other roles at Citi include head of the Asia Pacific consumer business, chief executive of Citibank Singapore, head of wealth management Asia and head of business development for Asia-Pacific.

“Mr Larsen has a strong reputation as an innovator in the financial sector in Asia and globally,” said Peter Ma, chairman and CEO. “He brings a rare combination of global insight and management experience in both finance and technology. We are very pleased to have him as part of our leadership team.”