FCA tells asset managers to gear up for the end of Libor February 27, 2020 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has written to asset managers to tell them to get ready for the end of Libor. Libor is being phased out after banks were fined billions for trying to manipulate it. The benchmark, used for pricing trillions of dollars of swaps, futures and loans, is set to end at the [...]
Interactive Investor to acquire The Share Centre for £62m February 17, 2020 Interactive Investor is to buy The Share Centre in a cash and shares deal worth around £61.9m, the companies announced this morning. The owner of The Share Centre’s stock surged as much as 17.24 per cent this morning following news of the offer. Announcing the deal, ii said retail investment platforms need scale to sustain [...]
Amundi’s assets under management hit €1.65 trillion February 12, 2020 Amundi’s assets under management (AUM) reached €1.65 trillion (£1.38 trillion) in 2019, with the French asset manager boosted by a record fourth quarter. Inflows hit a record £76.8bn during the fourth quarter, including £59.6bn received from a new pension fund mandate at Amundi’s Indian joint venture, it said. Net inflows for the entire year were [...]
UK active fund inflows nosedive on coronavirus fears February 11, 2020 Sales of active equity funds in the UK plunged over 90 per cent in January after the coronavirus outbreak led to a collapse in investor confidence. Inflows into actively-managed equity funds totalled just £78m in January, a drop of 93 per cent compared to the previous month, according to figures from fund network Calastone. “Stock [...]
Investment giant Legal & General to vote against combined chair and chief executive roles February 3, 2020 Legal & General’s investment arm will vote against combined chief executive and board chairman roles globally, taking on business giants including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Blackrock’s Larry Fink. Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), one of the largest investment companies in the world with over £1 trillion under management, announced the change as part of [...]
St James’s Place overhauls pay and perks after scrutiny February 2, 2020 St James’s Place is set to overhaul its pay and perks programmes following intense scrutiny of the incentives offered to partners, including cruises and white-gold cufflinks. Bosses at Britain’s largest wealth manager have told staff the changes will reward “the right behaviours” and go beyond recognising sales made in a single year, according to the [...]
Chairs of public companies think they would be ‘better off’ at private firms January 29, 2020 Many chairs of public companies in the UK believe they would be “better off” at private firms given the regulatory burdens and intense scrutiny faced by listed businesses, according to a major investor group. The Investor Forum, whose 50 members control £18.5 trillion assets, said the continued rush of private money into the unlisted market [...]
Quilter claws its way back to net inflows but re-platforming nerves hit January 29, 2020 Wealth manager Quilter said it returned to net inflows by the end of 2019, reversing three consecutive quarters of outflows, but overall flows still lagged behind the previous year. Quilter, which was spun out from Old Mutual in June 2018, said flows remained “subdued” in the fourth quarter of 2019 amid adviser nerves about the [...]
Brewin Dolphin chief executive David Nicol to leave wealth manager January 29, 2020 Brewin Dolphin has announced that David Nicol will retire as chief executive of the wealth manager in June. Nicol, who has been with the company for eight years, will be replaced by Robin Beer, who currently runs Brewin Dolphin’s intermediaries, charity, professional services and digital businesses. Chairman Simon Miller thanked Nicol for his “outstanding contribution [...]
Star stockpicker apologises for ‘having too much’ Wirecard stock January 28, 2020 Former Jupiter fund manager Alexander Darwall has apologised to investors for making too large a bet on fintech Wirecard, which is facing scrutiny over its accounting practices. At one point Darwall, who left Jupiter in July to establish his own fund management business, had over 17 per cent of his £1bn investment trust in the [...]