GAM Re-Elects Chairman Amid Recovery Quest

Editorial Staff

9 May 2019

, the wealth manager hit by client outflows amid the suspension of a senior manager, has re-elected its chairman, three existing board members and voted for three new additions to the board.

The Zurich-listed firm voted that Hugh Scott-Barrett remain chairman and re-elected Hugh Scott-Barrett as chairman of the board. Benjamin Meuli, Nancy Mistretta and David Jacob were also re-elected to its board. Katia Coudray, Jacqui Irvine and Monika Machon joined the board.

The organisation, as previously reported, intends to cut costs by at least SFr40 million ($40.3 million) by the end of next year, which will include shedding employees. To rebuild its capital, GAM’s directors said the firm won’t pay a dividend for 2018. Total assets under management and private labelling rose in the first three months of 2019. AuM rose to SFr137.4 billion ($136.2 billion) as at 31 March, from $132.2 billion at the end of 2018.

On the investment management front, AuM stood at SFr55.1 billion, down by 2 per cent from 31 December 2018, driven by net outflows of SFr4.0 billion, partially offset by positive market and foreign exchange movements of SFr3.0 billion.

Investors pulled billions from GAM’s Absolute Return Bond fund range last year after the unit’s manager, Tim Haywood, was suspended in late 2017. (He has now been fired, and is reportedly contesting this decision.) The firm launched a probe into Haywood's conduct in the summer of 2018 after concerns about his activity were flagged by an internal whistleblower. At the time of Haywood’s suspension in late July, GAM said that it acted because “some of his risk management procedures and his record keeping in certain instances” fell short of requirements. One casualty of the affair was Alex Friedman, its chief executive, who resigned.