Investments  

Advisers stay loyal to Rathbones as outflows bite

Advisers stay loyal to Rathbones as outflows bite

Business from financial advisers boosted the assets under management of Rathbones in what was an otherwise tough period for the company.

In a market update issued by Rathbones this morning (January 9), the company said of its £43bn in assets in its investment management business at the end of 2019 - an increase of 11.7 per cent on the previous year - £8.7bn was from advisers - an increase of £1.2bn on the previous year.

Overall, investors pulled £327m from Rathbones's investment management arm in the final three months of 2019, leading to net outflows of £351m for the year. 

Article continues after advert

Rathbones said the outflows were mostly from "low margin" clients of the Spiers & Jeffrey advice business as well as pension fund mandates, which also tend to be less profitable for investment managers.

Rathbones bought Spiers & Jeffrey in 2018. 

In the results statement, the company said: "The last quarter of 2019 saw the exit of some lower margin mandates following the integration of Speirs & Jeffrey and additional outflows as some pension and other institutional mandates were repositioned by trustees."

The performance of the unit trust business was much stronger, with net inflows of £294m in the three month period and £943m for 2019. These figures will also include some cash placed by advisers, but it is not broken down within the figures provided. 

Overall, the company had net outflows of £33m in the three month period, but positive market movements meant its total assets under management rose by 17 per cent during 2019 to £50.4bn, with £7.4bn of that being within the funds business. 

The company said it expects volatility to persist in the markets in the months ahead.

david.thorpe@ft.com

What do you think about the issues raised by this story? Email us on fa.letters@ft.com to let us know.