Fund Management
GAM Launches Probe After Manager's Suspension

The firm said that the investigation started after concerns about his activity were flagged by an internal whistleblower.
GAM launched an
investigation into suspended fixed income absolute return manager
Tim Haywood after concerns about his activity were flagged by
an internal whistleblower, the firm has said. GAM has seen heavy
outflows from the funds since the suspension announcement a few
weeks ago, and the firm has imposed a temporary halt to
redemptions.
The statement from the group followed a claim by
finews.asia, which reported that concerns over Haywood’s
trades had been passed to management by a colleague late last
year, and were passed to the UK financial watchdog FCA.
The report did not name the individual, who is subject to
whistleblower protections, but said the duo worked together for
12 years.
The firm said: “The internal investigation evolved as more facts
and circumstances were uncovered and identified a number of
potential misconduct issues, the cumulative effect of which led
to the decision to suspend Mr Haywood. As previously stated, no
other employees are being investigated in relation to these
matters and no evidence was found to indicate that such an
investigation regarding other employees was required. The
internal disciplinary process in respect of the suspended
investment director is ongoing. As previously stated, the
potential conduct issues identified related to failure to conduct
or evidence sufficient due diligence and failure to make
accessable internal records of documents in certain instances.
Additionally, the investigation concluded that Mr Haywood may
have breached the company's signatory policy and may have used
his personal email for work purposes. He also breached the
company's gifts and entertainment policy.”
The Swiss firm said recently that it would liquidate the Absolute
Return Bond range and it would likely be able to return the bulk
of client capital in September. It added that between 60 per cent
and 87 per cent of affected assets had been returned to clients
with a second round of liquidations taking place this week.
Recently, this publication
reported that GAM had merged away four bonds' funds on 31
July in order to streamline its fixed income offering.