GAM CEO David Jacob speaks to finews.asia about the battered asset manager's prospects to stay independent as it recovers from a disastrous whistleblowing scandal, and about shareholders' refusal to grant absolution.
David Jacob, will GAM remain an independent company?
GAM is still being impacted by the absolute return bond fund issues, no doubt. But fundamentally, it is a good business. We are confident that we’ll be able to take the cost cuts we’ve laid out and to rebuild GAM as a strong active asset manager.
GAM’s board has signaled openness to other strategic options. Like what?
It’s the board’s obligation to consider strategic options and it should look at other options against management’s plan in terms of how we proceed from there. GAM has been through a very difficult time, but my sense is that it’s still very well-respected for its competencies both by competitors and clients.
Is your priority to keep it independent, and together as a parcel of boutiques?
My priority is to rebuild the business and to regain the trust of clients and shareholders.
Do you and board have the backing of Silchester, your long-standing major shareholder?
I can’t comment on individual shareholders. But Silchester has always been a very supportive shareholder. We’ve had a good dialogue.
Other shareholders aren’t as happy and rejected the discharge for your team and the board.
One of our biggest frustrations has been that our ability to communicate transparently has often been hampered. Not by our lack of desire to do so, but by legal constraints. Until we put the ARBF matters behind us, we understand the decision of some of our shareholders to reject the discharge.
«We took the most responsible decisions»
However, we still believe that we have continued to take the most responsible decisions with the primary objective of protecting our clients' interests and within tight legal and regulatory limitations.
It’s an almost unprecedented vote in Swiss corporate history.
I am heartened that we had more «yes» than «no» votes. In the Swiss system, abstentions count towards «no» votes.
Do you expect disciplinary proceedings against your former fund manager Tim Haywood to end at the same time as the wind-down of the absolute return bond funds?
I can’t comment on an internal procedure. We’re certainly hopeful we can put this all behind us.
David Jacob was appointed temporary CEO of GAM in November. The 54-year-old was formerly a GAM director and stepped in when former CEO Alex Friedman left following a whistleblowing scandal. The dual British-American banker was formerly the CEO of Rogge Global Partners, a fixed income boutique now owned by German insurer and asset manager Allianz. Previously, Jacob, he was a director of Henderson Global Investors and has also worked at UBS, Merrill Lynch, and J.P. Morgan. He graduated with a degree in economics from Wharton.
