By the time he wrote his final talking point for the year in December, he must have had a fair idea of the dramatic fall in new business Schroders witnessed during 2011.
What we don’t know is if at that point the writing was on the wall, as it were.
The announcement today that Brown would be stepping down as CIO and as a member of the Schroders board, came alongside the resignation of Michael Miles as chairman of the company.
Brown is to remain in a senior advisory position at the company, while the four heads of investment will pick up the CIO role between them: Ken Lambden for equities, Karl Dasher for fixed income, Nico Marais for multi-asset and Geoff Blanning for EMD and commodities. All four will report to Michael Dobson the chief executive.
Schroders has insisted that Brown’s removal from the board is unrelated to performance or to the plummet in net inflows from £27.1bn in 2010 to £3.2bn in 2011.
Legacy
Its statement regarding Brown’s work the firm said: "Alan has made a great contribution to our success since joining us as chief investment officer in 2005 and we are delighted to announce that Schroders will remain his principal focus.
"As a senior adviser he will devote half his time to our business, in particular on working with some of our largest clients."
Andrew Mitchell, a financials analyst at Charles Stanley, said: "I think what we have seen across the asset management sector for 2011, and particularly in the second half, is a significantly more difficult environment for asset gathering."
He said Schroders had a particularly strong year in 2010, so was starting from a higher base, and that, in conjunction with the general environment, explained the reduced inflows.
Certainly the net inflows of £27.1bn in 2010 were higher than 2009’s £15bn, but a drop of 88% to £3.2bn is still huge.
Industry trend
Earlier this week Jupiter Fund Management also reported a reduction in net inflows from £2.3bn in 2010 to £0.7bn in 2011, a fall of more than two-thirds.
But as a UK and equity-focused fund house Jupiter was slightly buffeted as UK investors have proved to be "stickier" with their investments, while investors in Europe and further afield have been generally flighty.
Meanwhile Henderson also reported its annual results recently, but comparisons are skewed because of its acquisition of Gartmore last year.
So as a global fund house Schroders has to take both the perks and the pitfalls that come with it.
"Schroders has a wider mix and a decent amount of European exposure – the area everyone, including the IMA, has highlighted as seeing the greatest outflows. So it would naturally see higher outflows and this was something that had been hinted at in its previous update," Mitchell added.
As a final word he said it would not necessarily be down to the CIO to fall on the sword for reduced new business, with other roles within the company more focused towards that goal.
So he may be Brown, but he’s not out.
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