CNBC announced plans Thursday to strengthen its Hong Kong editorial operations.
Anchor Akiko Fujita is moving from the network’s Asia headquarters in Singapore to join veteran Bernie Lo to host CNBC’s flagship morning show, “Squawk Box.”
Akiko has covered some of the biggest stories across Asia and the U.S. Prior to joining CNBC, Akiko was a Tokyo-based correspondent for ABC News.
In addition, Uptin Saiidi will move from Singapore to CNBC’s Hong Kong news room. As a multimedia journalist, Uptin fronts many of the network’s digital video series available across CNBC’s digital and social platforms.
The network also announced the appointment of Kelly Gerard Olsen as market correspondent.
Olsen will join the Hong Kong office and report directly to Asia Pacific editor Everett Rosenfeld. Prior to joining CNBC, Olsen was the news editor and deputy bureau chief of Agence France-Presse in Tokyo.
“With China taking steps to open up its economy and implement financial reforms, interest in the Chinese market has increased exponentially around the world,” said Roshan Vaswani, CNBC’s head of APAC News & Programming, in a statement. “In order to serve our audiences’ growing appetite and interest in China, we’re stepping up our commitment to Hong Kong and the China story to ensure we remain first in class.”
Earlier in February, Yolande Chee, CNBC’s senior booker and producer, joined the Hong Kong news desk from the network’s Sydney bureau.
