Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM), the fund management wing of Bank of Ireland, has started to win new business again after passing through two years of lost mandates. Una McCaffrey reports.
The company, which has just appointed a new investment team, won 12 new mandates in the March to June quarter.
The new business, drawn from domestic clients, amounted to a total value of €300 million.
BIAM also increased its assets under management after an existing international client gave the firm more money to manage on its behalf. This additional mandate was worth Canadian $50 million (€35 million).
In the first quarter of the year, the firm also won a new fixed income mandate worth $88 million (€69 million) from an international central bank. The new wins did not stem the overall continuing decline in assets under management, however.
In the three months to the end of June, the value of assets managed by BIAM fell by €3 billion to €42 billion. Most of this was due to upheaval in the international markets, with declining equity valuations accounting for €2.2 billion of the fall. Slightly more than €1 billion was then attributable to lost mandates, although this loss was reduced to €800 million when the new business won was included.
Total assets under management at BIAM have fallen from €57 billion two years ago. Since then, the firm has suffered as a result of high-profile staff departures and poor investment returns.
In the year to March 31st, BIAM produced a pretax profit of €85 million, compared to €125 million a year earlier.
Two weeks ago, the division appointed a new team of senior people to oversee investment policies in the future. The appointment of Chris Johns, Paul Boyne and Sean Crowe is designed to help BIAM to leave behind the setbacks of the past two years.
Mick Sweeney, chief executive of the business since April, said this week that he wants to get assets under management back to €57 billion after five years.
He also wants to bring in more international business so that 40 per cent of activity could stem from abroad. At the moment, 80 per cent is domestic.
Sweeney said the company has put in motion an "evolutionary, not big bang" shift, designed to bring better returns for existing clients and to bring in new business in the future.
