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Abrdn’s new chief executive Jason Windsor has made sweeping leadership changes in a bid to improve the UK asset manager’s investment performance after a difficult period.
The FTSE 250 group said on Tuesday that Rene Buehlmann, head of investments at Abrdn based in Singapore, would leave the business. He will be replaced by Xavier Meyer, Abrdn’s chief client officer based in the UK.
David Scott, Abrdn’s chief enterprise technology officer who sits on the company’s executive team, is set to retire from the business.
As part of the reshuffle, Richard Wilson, chief executive of Abrdn’s investment site Interactive Investor will take on the additional role of group chief operating officer.
The management overhaul comes just two months after Windsor was appointed as permanent chief executive of Abrdn, having held the role on an interim basis following the departure of Stephen Bird in May.
“These changes are about having the right people in the right roles, sharpening our focus on clients, and strengthening our investments business,” Windsor said on Tuesday.
But Windsor has landed the top job during a difficult period for Abrdn and other midsized asset managers in the UK, as they contend with continuous customer withdrawals from domestic equity funds and mounting costs from regulation.
The group, which was formed from the merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen in 2017, has twice been ejected from the FTSE 100 in the past four years and has undergone a much ridiculed rebrand. Abrdn’s share price has dropped by a fifth over the past year.
Analysts note that costs have remained stubbornly high, with a cost to income ratio of 82 per cent. Windsor said in the company’s third-quarter results last month that the group was on track to deliver £60mn of cost savings in 2024 and at least £150mn on an annual basis by the end of next year.
In addition to the management changes, Abrdn has created a new group operating committee to focus on transforming the company’s performance and speed up decision-making.
The committee will include Windsor, Wilson as the new chief operating officer, the chief financial officer — a role currently held on an interim basis by Ian Jenkins — and the business unit heads.
Abrdn said its existing executive leadership team had also been restructured to focus on overseeing the execution of strategy, culture, as well as risk and controls.
As a result, the executive leadership team has been broadened to include Peter Branner, chief investment officer of its asset management division, as well as senior staff working with clients and investment products. The move is aimed at providing “a clear focus on client outcomes and deliver the group’s growth and efficiency objectives,” Abrdn said.
Windsor added that “the new leadership team will drive profitable long-term growth that will benefit our shareholders, our clients and our colleagues.”