For Paul Malpas, head of UK wholesale distribution at Nordea Asset Management, his job is to try and change all that. Originally joining Nordea 11 years ago on the marketing side, in 2010 he was given the opportunity to take on the role of building up the UK part of the asset management business.
He explains: “There is a desire to gain market share here. The group is obviously a big Nordic bank that is very well known in the Nordics, but not really outside of that area. However, when you look at the top 10 banks in Europe, we’re in the top five. We are this big bank but no-one really knows us.
“At the same time, the UK market is a big area and the use of third-party funds is considerable. So obviously it is an attractive place to try and come and do business. We want to grow: either you’re in a growing business or you are in a shrinking business.”
It is clear that continuing the work of expanding the presence of Nordea is something Mr Malpas is enthusiastic about, having been with the Luxembourg-based asset management part of the business through its ‘identity crisis’ in the mid-2000s.
“Nordea Asset Management in Luxembourg went through a lot of change. We had a fund that was hugely popular, the North American Value fund, performance was fantastic and we got a lot of assets into that strategy. But it got too big and, as a result, the performance started to tail off and investors started leaving. That was a sort of identity crisis because we didn’t have any alternative products.”
This resulted in structural change with the company deciding to use the model from the North American Value fund, where it was an external manager white-labelled as Nordea, and implemented a multi-boutique strategy.
“Where we had internal teams based in Stockholm or Copenhagen, we told them to manage away from the benchmark within the Luxembourg Sicav range. Then we started adding external advisers. We went for the big asset classes first, a US growth fund, a European value fund and so on. So over the years we’ve been building the number of internal and external boutiques we have. We have approximately 67 funds in the range, so a much broader palette of products,” he explains.
An additional driver of the asset management business has been the decision to make the Luxembourg Sicav the preferred platform for new launches. In the past, if Sweden wanted an Africa fund they got permission from the regulator, got seed capital and launched it. But if Norway wanted a similar vehicle the process would start from scratch.
“It didn’t really make sense,” says Mr Malpas. “Now what happens is it goes to a product committee, a decision is made on the business case, it is launched in the Sicav and then we can sell it into the Nordics, but also the UK and the rest of Europe.”
This restructuring meant that there was nobody specifically looking after the UK market, and so Mr Malpas highlighted his interest in the role. “My boss let me try, and gave me the freedom to do it. That was three years ago. The first year I was still doing a bit of marketing and communications and some sales. But now it’s a full-time sales role.”
Although still relatively unknown in the UK retail space, the brand has been making progress with the global wealth managers and high end discretionary managers, which has seen Nordea’s funds start to appear on some platforms.
Mr Malpas, a fluent French and German speaker, notes: “Germany was the first market we started in outside the Nordics, then over the years we’ve gradually been extending that footprint. London will always play a key role for a lot of the big private banks and global wealth managers because so many managers are here. Everyone comes through London at some stage.
“That’s why the UK is important to us and we want to build up the discretionary side. We know we have attractive products, we have UK reporting status and sterling share classes. We are set up to do business here. That’s taken a couple of years to get to that stage, but we are there now and we are optimistic that there is room for us.”
That said, he points out that the firm is not planning to roll out huge sales teams to tackle individual advisers. “Everyone assumes the adviser is the best place to start, but I would suggest it’s not because you end up running up against the Jupiter’s and the Fidelity’s of this world who have huge marketing spends and have been in the space for years. It’s not a space we can or want to compete in.”
Instead the strategy has been to tackle it from the opposite end by talking to multi-managers initially, and then international wealth managers and top-end discretionary firms.
“What inevitably happens is once you start to get on some of these lists, people see it and then you start to create a bit of demand. It’s a chicken-and-egg thing really. We say ‘I’d love to be on your platform’, they say ‘if there is demand we’ll put you on’, but then we say ‘how do I get demand if I’m not on your platform’,” he laughs.
“We’ve been really lucky that we’ve got some products people are looking at and want to access, and that they are important enough in the industry that their say has weight and swing with the platforms. So the platforms are now opening up to us through the client demand, and that’s great.
“But it doesn’t mean we’re going out to target advisers. We welcome their business of course, but what we are trying to do is build a long-term reputation by providing a high-quality service. We don’t want to overextend ourselves and stretch ourselves to the extent that we can’t support a network once that investment has been made. So we’re not going to have a team of 20 people running around the UK in the foreseeable future,” he adds.
Although based in Luxembourg, Mr Malpas spends a lot of his time in the London office, but notes it is unlikely the push in the UK retail space will result in any launches of UK equities or UK fixed income funds.
“What we’re trying to do is cover the major asset classes, so right now the product we are seeing a lot of interest in is a US All Cap fund. That is a space where people have for decades struggled to find a consistent long-term manager, and it is a space where there is always interest,” he says.
“Global emerging markets are another space where people are looking for solutions, as a lot of funds are hitting capacity issues, which is becoming a real problem for clients. That offers opportunities, the US is one and GEMs are another, so they are the ones we are moving forward with in the UK.”
It may seem a daunting task to some, to try and break into the UK from Europe, but it is clear Mr Malpas is not one to give up, as demonstrated by the fact breaking his back last year while snowboarding has not put him off the sport. “That was an experience, but I’m back on it now. Like they say when you fall off a bike you have to get straight back on.”
This enthusiasm should stand him in good stead and, having experienced the tough times in the business, he points out it can be difficult to detach. “I don’t see it as a chore – it’s part of my make-up now,” he adds. “In this industry, sometimes I sit in places and think how lucky we are. The opportunities afforded to us, the places we get to see and go and the people we meet, I just think what a great industry to be in. I love it and I wouldn’t swap that.”
CV - Paul Malpas
Jan 2010–present - Head of UK wholesale distribution, Nordea Asset Management
Jan 2003–Dec 2009 - Head of marketing and communications, Nordea Investment Funds S.A.
May 2001–Dec 2002 - Manager, European sales, AIG Asset Management International
Jan 1998–May 2001 - Sales manager, Bridge Information Systems
Aug 1995–Dec 1997 - Partner, Streetwise Marketingkommunikation
July 1993–July 1995 - Manager, Dietz & Partner Kreatives Marketing
