The Swiss fund company GAM has been in turbulence for years now.

Now the house will again lose a major customer.

From April 2023, this will transfer around CHF 10.5 billion in fund assets to its existing fund management company, GAM announced, leaving only around CHF 1 billion with GAM.

The deduction relates to the service area, in which customers are relieved of extensive activities so that they can concentrate on asset management and sales.

In 2021, GAM generated less than 3 percent of the success of the service and commission business with the customer concerned.

Martin Hock

Editor in Business.

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However, this continues the extensive withdrawal of funds that began in 2018.

At the time, GAM had to separate from its top fund manager at the time, Tim Haywood.

It was said that he had violated documentation requirements and his risk management was probably not beyond all doubt.

In addition, Haywood had violated internal guidelines, for example when accepting gifts and invitations, and was initially suspended and later fired.

After this incident, its managed bond funds were liquidated.

"Significant deficiencies were identified in terms of the skill and care that could be expected of someone in his position," GAM said at the time.

In the middle of the Greensill scandal

But that was not the end of the matter.

As it became known not long after, the Haywood affair was directly related to the scandal surrounding the Greensill Bank, which then collapsed last year, which also cost German municipalities a lot of money.

Three weeks ago, the British financial regulator Financial Conduct Authority fined Haywood and GAM around 270,000 and 9.1 million pounds after a lengthy investigation.

For example, Haywood violated the company's Gifts and Hospitality Policy when he accepted Greensill Capital's offer to travel to Sardinia on a private jet.

While no evidence was found that he made investment decisions based on gifts and hospitality, the fact that conflicts were not properly managed increased the risk that there might have been incentives to invest out of personal interest.

GAM, in turn, failed to ensure effective prevention of conflicts of interest.

Since the Haywood affair, the company, which received CHF 8.6 billion in new funds in 2017, has recorded outflows of more than CHF 10 billion every year.

In 2021, when the Greensill scandal reached its peak, it was almost CHF 25 billion.

If the house managed assets of almost 85 billion francs at the beginning of 2018, it was only 30 billion as of March 31 of this year.

Against this background, the first quarter of the current year looked almost hopeful, when only CHF 270 million net was deducted.

However, it will probably not be possible to compensate for the repeated extensive withdrawal of funds that is imminent for the coming year.