For the first time next month, BlackRock's giant iShares [profile] ETF business will have a chief for its U.S. arm.

A source familiar with the situation confirms that in March Martin Small will become iShares' first U.S. head, reporting to global iShares chief Mark Wiedman. Small is a BlackRock veteran who co-heads the U.S. financial markets advisory business.

Ashley Lau of Reuters reports that Wiedman unveiled the news to his team via a memo sent Sunday night.

iShares already has regional chiefs in Europe and Asia, with sales chiefs for those areas reporting in to the regional chiefs. The appointment of Small brings the U.S. arm of iShares more in line with those other areas, as the U.S. sales team and other U.S. iShares executives will report in to Small.

The source told MFWire that iShares had $1.033 trillion in assets management as of December 31, including $760 billion in the U.S. alone. iShares brought in $82.8 billion in net inflows in the U.S. last year, its biggest year ever. 

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