Fund manager Philip Rodrigs' sudden departure from River and Mercantile occurred following a two month long investigation after the investment house identified his potentially problematic conduct in December 2017.
As part of RAMAM’s ongoing risk based compliance monitoring, it identified potentially problematic conduct in December 2017 and conducted a thorough investigation into the matter over the past two months.
Flagged as part of ongoing risk based compliance monitoring, Mr Rodrigs’ professional conduct was "incompatible with the high standards of conduct" which River and Mercantile expects from its staff, "particularly that of a FCA approved individual and senior portfolio manager", the company said in a statement.
This is the reason for his departure from the business.
Separately, as FTAdviser has previously reported, River and Mercantile is one of several firms being investigated by the regulator in relation to collusion to share information on the pricing of initial public offerings.
As a result of the FCA’s investigation, according to River and Mercantile it introduced more stringent systems and controls processes.
Mr Rodrigs’ conduct was identified in December 2017 as a result of those improved systems and controls, but relate to a specific professional conduct issue, not the ongoing FCA investigation, a River and Mercantile spokesperson said.
The 36 year old fund manager, regarded by many as a rising star of in the industry, ran the £900m River and Mercantile UK Smaller Companies fund, the £100m River and Mercantile MicroCap investment trust and the £374m River and Mercantile UK Dynamic fund.
In light of his dismissal from the company, Morningstar have downgraded the ratings they give to those funds.
David.Thorpe@ft.com
