Meanwhile the property team saw a further change in the past year, with Malcolm Naish retiring as director of real estate in June, with his replacement Lynda Shillaw taking on the role in October from Lloyds Banking Group. .
Fixed income, however, has seen a continued boost in terms of hires, including Alan Bridges as investment director for UK rates in August, and Calum Smith as head of global aggregate in the fixed income team in September.
Further support for the division has included the appointment of Neil Tong, formerly UK equity fund manager and desk head at Alliance Trust, as a senior credit research analyst within the fixed income team.
But Swip’s overhaul is not just focusing on the UK, with the company announcing in October the appointment of three investment grade credit analysts for its US-based fixed income team. It stated at the time that it wants to grow the fixed income assets it manages from its US office with the expectation of managing roughly $2.5bn (£1.6bn) in US investment grade assets in the next 12 months.
Royal London Asset Management
In the first quarter of 2013 Royal London Asset Management (Rlam) has brought about the departure of three fund managers, including head of equities Jane Coffey.
It was revealed by Investment Adviser in February that Ms Coffey had left the group after 11 years, as the head of equities role no longer existed following a decision by Rlam to refocus its active equity efforts on areas in which it believes it is more competitive.
Edward Chan, manager of the Royal London Far East fund, and Jonathan McClure, manager of the Japan Growth fund, have also left as both vehicles are switching to a passive management approach.
Rlam stresses it “remains fully committed to managing active equity funds, but ensuring we focus our efforts on those areas where we have a competitive advantage”.
This effectively means a focus on its pan-European active equity funds and its range of UK equity vehicles, with Ms Coffey’s UK Equity fund now being run by Ivor Pether.
A spokesperson for Rlam explains: “We just felt we were not in a position to compete with the big players who have much greater resources in those areas [Far East and Japan] and a local presence, so essentially what we’ve done is transfer those assets to our existing passive equity team where we already run in excess of £7bn.”
Rlam adds the changes are not a question of the firm refocusing its equity strategy but instead ensuring “we have the right resources in the right areas and ensuring we concentrate our efforts on those areas where we can add value”.
