Abrdn and Schroders turn to finance chiefs in bid to revive fortunes

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Abrdn and Schroders appointed new chief executives on Tuesday, with both UK asset managers tapping CFOs as pressure to cut costs and revive profits intensifies.

Abrdn handed Jason Windsor, its former CFO, the top job on a permanent basis. Windsor has held the role on an interim basis since Stephen Bird’s exit in May.

Schroders has announced that its chief financial officer, Richard Oldfield, will take over from Peter Harrison as chief executive in November, a decision first reported by the Financial Times this month.

The pair will take the helm facing the challenge of reviving the fortunes of asset managers, who have each struggled to adapt to an era of low fees and the rise of passive investing.

“I don’t think we’ve ever seen two CFOs promoted to CEO in the same sector on the same day,” said Panmure Liberum analyst Rae Maile. “Like London buses. . . Both good dates. Both have similar problems of underperforming businesses where costs are too high.”

Sir Douglas Flint, chairman of Abrdn, said Windsor “emerged from a very thorough process as the unanimous choice of the Board to lead abrdn into its next phase”.

The FT also reported last month that Windsor, a former senior Aviva executive, was poised to take the top job at Abrdn. Flint said the succession process considered both internal and external candidates.

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Windsor’s promotion comes after four turbulent years for the asset manager, which has seen it twice delisted from the FTSE 100 and suffered a much-mocked rebrand, when its Standard Life Aberdeen brand was ditched for Abrdn.

Windsor joined Abrdn last October. Before that, he worked at housebuilder Persimmon as finance director for just over a year, having previously held the same role at insurance company Aviva, where he worked for 15 years.

Bird sought to expand Abrdn by expanding its wealth management business and selling more investments directly to consumers by acquiring Interactive Investor, the UK’s second largest investment site by assets, for £1.5bn in 2021.

He restructured underperforming parts of the company by merging or closing more than 250 investment funds and offloading peripheral businesses and joint ventures. Earlier this year, Bird cut about 500 jobs, representing 10 percent of its workforce, to cut costs.

Meanwhile, Schroders has sought to offset the decline of its traditional mutual fund business by pushing into fast-growing areas such as private markets and wealth management.

Announcing Oldfield’s appointment, Schroders chairman Elizabeth Corley said: “Richard has proven to be a natural leader of customer and people-centric businesses. He has a global perspective, a strategic growth mindset and a proven track record of leadership.”