Swiss bank Syz to open assets arm in Scotland
Syz Asset Management, which manages money on behalf of clients including pension funds, insurance companies and investment funds and is part of Geneva-headquartered Syz & Co, has taken offices in Charlotte Square in the capital.
Fund manager Claire Manson, who joined Syz from Franklin Templeton earlier this year, will be based in the office together with an analyst and business development director Derek Borthwick.
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Hide AdEric Syz, co-founder and managing partner of Syz & Co, told Scotland on Sunday that the opening of the office was a natural move given the company’s ambitions to grow its business in the UK. It opened an office in London 13 years ago.
“The UK is a centre of global asset management and we are keen to build our business in the market. Scotland is a very important hub for that industry and a place where some of the most talented people have always been based,” said Syz, who began his career in the 1970s with investment bank SG Warburg.
“I remember back then what a great reputation Scotland had for asset management and it is still the case. The industry is very much about talented people and if you want to attract them to help you grow then you have to have a physical presence where those top people are.”
Syz said although he had no firm targets for expansion of the Scottish operation he believed there was the potential to build a sizeable operation north of the Border.
Although the company already has a number of clients in Scotland, he said there was a significant opportunity to grow its business in Scotland among institutional investors and IFAs.
Manson and fellow Franklin European equity manager Michael Clements, who oversaw its ¤3.1 billion European growth fund, both joined Syz at the same time.
Clements now heads up Syz’s London-based team of fund managers and analysts and manages its Oyster European funds.