Swiss money manager GAM has reported IFRS net loss of CHF929.1m for the year ended 31 December 2018, versus a profit of CHF123.2m a year ago.
The group’s underlying net profit plummeted 28% to CHF98.2m from CHF137.1m last year.
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Underlying pre-tax profit at the group plunged 27% year-on-year to CHF126.7m.
Income for 2018 was CHF500.2m, down 9% from CHF549.9m in the previous year.
Expenses dropped 1% during the period, to CHF373.5m from CHF377.4m.
Investment management
Assets under management in investment management totalled CHF56.1bn at the end of December 2018.
This marks a 34% slump from CHF84.4bn in 2017.
Assets under management in the group’s private labelling arm reached CHF76.1bn as at 31 December 2018, up 2% from CHF74.3bn last year.
GAM group CEO David Jacob said: “2018 was a very challenging year for the asset management industry in general and for GAM in particular, given the difficult decisions we had to make around ARBF and the impact it has had on our results.
“We are repositioning GAM to build on the strong investment expertise we have in our business, with a distinct set of strategies that are relevant for client needs and a global distribution network to support our client relationships.”
Meanwhile, the firm sacked star fund manager Tim Haywood, who was dismissed around seven months ago.
The dismissal came after revelation of breaches in his risk management and record keeping processes.
Soon after the suspension, GAM liquidated its unconstrained/absolute return bond funds range managed by Haywood.
