Swiss asset manager GAM plans to revive growth with fresh faces at its Wealth Management unit and new products after a first half in which its core division posted net outflows.
Zurich-based asset manager GAM’s core Investment Management division recorded a net outflow of 2.2 billion Swiss francs ($2.4 billion) in the first half of the year, the company said in a results statement Wednesday.
Private Labeling had net inflows of customer funds of 800 million francs.
As of June 30, GAM's total assets under management had grown to 126.0 billion francs from 122.0 billion at the end of 2020. Favorable foreign exchange and market movements of 1.9 billion francs net only partially offset net outflows, the company added.
Cost Cuts on Track
GAM's cost-cutting target of 15 million francs for 2021 is on track, the company said. It added that it would focus more on wealth management and that a new management team had been put in place both in this area and private labeling. Investments in technology should support growth.
«We are seeing an encouraging level of client interest reflecting our strong investment performance and although we saw outflows in investment management overall, we saw net inflows across our equity platform and have achieved an increasingly diversified pipeline of client activity in the first half with demand across our core, thematic, liquid alternative and sustainable strategies,» CEO Peter Sanderson said in the statement.
Return to Operational Profitability
GAM managed to reduce its first-half net loss to 2.7 million francs from 390.1 million a year earlier.
It also flipped to an operating profit of 800,000 francs from a loss of 2.0 million in the first half of 2020.
The company signaled in mid-July 2021 that it expected a loss in the first half of the year. The sharp losses in the first half of 2020 were due to a full writedown of existing goodwill.
