There are a number of reasons why it makes sense for the Old Mutual brand to take a more prominent role in the UK wealth management space.
The recent merger of Skandia Investment Group with Old Mutual Asset Managers is a start to boosting the group’s funds presence – Old Mutual Fund Managers stood at a lowly 31st position in the retail FUM rankings with £2.7bn, according to the IMA’s stats from July.
Homogeneity doesn’t work for all. Old Mutual’s route is the opposite of that taken by Aegon, which last year renamed its asset management business as Kames Capital, while the rebranding of Ignis Asset Management, previously Resolution, sets it apart from the messy corporate history of its parent.
beware the buzz words
The fund group behemoths have proven themselves adept at reshaping both their corporate image and also their product lines with subtle and not so subtle name changes.
Fund of funds might be the perfect case. Whereas once ‘multi-manager’ was the buzz term in wide circulation, now groups would much rather we go ‘multi-asset’. Of course, not all multi-asset funds invest in collectives, but there is an overlap.
Eden Financial’s Global Multi-Strategy Fund, led by industry veteran Mark Harris, is a good example. Harris’ career spans prominent retail fund of funds roles at New Star and Henderson Global Investors and while, according to him at least, he is roughly picking from the same universe as he always has done, now it is marketed under the ‘multi-asset’ or ‘multi-strategy’ banners.
Does this really make such a big such difference? Probably not to savvy investors, but then nor should it matter whether they are investing with a company called Skandia or Old Mutual. The City is where the marketing consultants make their millions, and it’s often them that determine how we measure its evolution.
