STEPHEN CRANSTON: How’s the restructuring?
It makes sense not to have an in-house fund manager if you claim to be in the business of objective advice
I like to think of fund managers as the advertising agencies of the financial services world. There may not be as many ponytails or tattoos, but the Trump-style egos are just as terrifying. Fund management is also well served by a partnership structure and limited corporate interference. It was interesting to see that Old Mutual in the UK has sold its direct asset management business, even though it was run by a star manager, Richard Buxton. It makes sense not to have an in-house fund manager if you claim to be in the business of objective advice. Much the same thinking went into Momentum closing down its single manager business, which had a strong brand when it was called RMB Asset Management. Old Mutual locally has gone the opposite way. It had the opportunity to seed more management buyouts of its so-called asset management "boutiques" but stopped at Electus Fund Managers, losing the only shop that actually resembled a boutique. Now the fund managers are deep in the bowels of the...
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