Troubled fund house GAM is continuing its company shake up as its group head of sales and distribution leaves the company.
In an update published yesterday (July 6), the Swiss asset manager announced Tim Rainsford, who has been sales chief and a board member at GAM since 2017, was leaving the firm to “take up a new opportunity”.
His role will be split in two going forward.
Jeremy Roberts, previously BlackRock’s co-head of EMEA retail sales and head of the UK retail business, has been appointed as global head of distribution, joining GAM in September this year.
The second and new role, global head of institutional solutions, will be appointed in due course.
Peter Sanderson, group chief executive, said: “I am delighted that Jeremy will be joining GAM. His leadership experience, enthusiasm and his passion to deliver outcomes for clients make him a great fit.
“I would also like to thank Tim for his contribution to the firm and to wish him all the best for the future.”
Mr Roberts said GAM had an “extremely strong management team, a great suite of active products and an innovative, client-centric culture” and he was “really looking forward to” joining the group.
The management reshuffle is the latest in a number of company shake ups over the past year.
In February GAM announced it would look to save £63m in a strategy overhaul as its profits continued to tumble.
In April, the coronavirus crisis triggered the fund house to cut its staff numbers by 16 per cent and review its pay structure in an attempt to accelerate the efficiency goals outlined in the overhaul.
It has since issued a profit warning as it faced a £348m impairment charge from when it was taken over more than 15 years ago, driven by the impact of Covid-19 on the group’s assets.
GAM’s plan for the future is a bid to move on from its troubled past few years, in which the suspension of one of its key fund managers led to a sustained period of outflows and saw the fund house’s assets under management dwindle.
In 2018 GAM liquidated a range of nine bond funds run by Tim Haywood after he was suspended amid concerns about due diligence and record keeping on the funds.
By October that year, the company's Aum had dropped by more than 10 per cent and it had seen £4bn of outflows from its fund range.
imogen.tew@ft.com
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