Alex Hoctor-Duncan is following in the footsteps of Martin Gilbert by moving from Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) to the board of River and Mercantile as an executive director.
Hoctor-Duncan (pictured) will be responsible for strategic development at River and Mercantile after he joins later this year at the end of his contract with ASI.
He was appointed as ASI global head in October last year, having worked for the asset management company since 2018 when he joined as global sales director. He previously spent 21 years at Blackrock, holding a number of senior retail distribution roles.
Valuable contribution
ASI said Hoctor-Duncan’s role will be taken over by Chris Demetriou, CEO UK, EMEA and Americas and Rene Buehlmann, CEO APAC, with the distribution strategy “aligned to their regional strategic priorities”.
A spokesperson for Standard Life Aberdeen said: “Alex has made a valuable contribution to integrating processes and delivering a consistent client experience globally, we would like to thank him for his commitment and wish him well for the future.”
River and Mercantile group CEO James Barham said Hoctor-Duncan has “a long, proven track record in the industry and will bring a perspective to our strategic development that will fit in well with our ambitions to take River and Mercantile forward to the next stage”.
He added: “The momentum within the business is noticeable as the investment we made in distribution and in new investment teams make an impact in particular in our solutions and wholesale businesses.”
See also: New Standard Life Aberdeen boss makes his mark as Campbell Fleming exits
Reunited with Martin Gilbert
Hoctor-Duncan leaves ASI as it undergoes its rebrand to ‘Abrdn‘. He will rejoin former Standard Life Aberdeen co-CEO Gilbert who serves as deputy chairman on the board of River and Mercantile, alongside his role as chairman of Assetco. Last month, ASI used Gilbert’s 9.9% Assetco stake to vote against his own appointment as chair in a bizarre spat.
Assetco has been on the hunt for acquisitions as it doubled its stake in River and Mercantile to 5.6% in February and has since acquired Saracen Fund Managers and announced strategic hires.
River and Mercantile has invested in its distribution team over the past year, raiding Merian for three senior salesmen. It hired former distribution boss Simon Smith in July last year, appointing Martin Canavan and Nick Pearse since.
The London-listed fund group saw its revenues dip 3% in the six months ended 31 December to £34.2m from £35.2m over the same period in 2019, despite an increase of assets under management of 3.4% to £45.7bn.
Trading in line with expectations
In a trading update also released on Tuesday, River and Mercantile said it “continues to trade in line with expectations”, adding that it has seen “additional fiduciary and derivative success” and since the beginning of the calendar year, it has won £3bn of new mandates with IMA’s under negotiation.
It said it is seeing a “strong recovery in the wholesale business which in combination with the fiduciary and derivative winds, positions the business well” for the financial year 2022.
