Swiss asset manager GAM is losing its compliance overseer in the middle of a whistleblowing scandal. She leaves just five months into the job.
Natalie Baylis, a long-time lawyer with the U.K. financial regulator who joined GAM in June, has decided to leave the firm for personal reasons, the Zurich-based asset manager said in a statement on Friday.
GAM has been in regular touch with the Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA, since March, when an internal whistleblower lodged a compliant with the U.K. regulator over star fund manager Tim Haywood. The move has led to the liquidation of the $7.3 billion absolute return bond arm overseen by Haywood, and plunged GAM into crisis.
Legal Shuffle
Baylis will leave GAM at the end of October. Her hire had represented a beefing-up of compliance at GAM, and prompted Swiss lawyer Dirk Spiegel, who has been GAM's chief counsel and a member of top management since last February, to leave.
Her exit sparks another shuffle of GAM top management: the company is hiring David Kemp from Schroders to take on the compliance job temporarily. He will work closely with Rachel Wheeler, a lawyer who became GAM's general counsel and part of top management around CEO Alex Friedman this month.
High-Level Exits
GAM said it is also lifting investment head Matthew Beesley into top management. Beesley had been instrumental in strengthening and centralizing GAM's investment team support, and his promotion highlights the importance of implementing the company's investments strategy, GAM said.
Other changes at GAM in recent months include the departure of key Swiss executive Dominik Rutishauser last month and communications bossElena Logutenkova.
