Swiss money manger GAM Holding has said that assets under management (AuM) in its investment management unit dropped 7% to CHF67.3bn in the first quarter of 2016 from CHF72.3bn in the previous quarter, due to net outflows and the negative impact from a weakening of the US dollar and the British pound.
Investors’ aversion to risk due to turbulent market conditions took a toll on the unit’s net outflows that stood at CHF3.1bn at the end of the quarter ended 31 March 2016.
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Assets under management in the group’s private labelling arm increased 1% to CHF47.4bn from CHF46.7bn in 31 December 2015.
The company attributed the rise in the unit’s AuM to net inflows of CHF1.1bn, partly offset by the negative impact from market and foreign exchange movements.
In the first quarter, the company purchased back 527,800 of its own shares for CHF7.6m for cancellation under the current share buy-back programme.
GAM group CEO Alexander Friedman said: "The start to 2016 in financial markets has been highly turbulent, leading to risk aversion among investors and affecting industry-wide flows. This created a challenging backdrop for a number of our investment strategies. We remain highly focused on delivering investment performance.
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By GlobalData"Despite disappointing flows in the first quarter, the execution of our strategy is well on track. We are in the midst of completing the extensive transition of our business model, adding innovative products suitable to address our clients’ investment needs and working to enhance GAM’s external recognition, while managing our costs in a highly disciplined fashion."
