Dog days as 23 jobs go at Swip equities team

SCOTTISH Widows Investment Partnership (Swip) has axed 23 jobs from its £54 billion equities team amid fears that underperforming funds have caused investors to put their cash elsewhere.

Swip said the cuts would “further reposition” its business. It would not confirm the identities of those who are leaving.

In February, the Lloyds Banking Group-owned asset manager revealed that external funds controlled by Scottish Widows fell by £4.9bn, or 18 per cent, last year. This compared unfavourably to its rivals such as Aviva, Prudential and Standard Life, which enjoyed net inflows of third-party funds in the same period.

Nevertheless, Swip performed well, boosting its profits by 13 per cent to £99 million.

The job cuts emerged after a report found that Swip was one of the worst offenders for managing “dog funds”, unit trusts that lose investors money.

Investment research firm Bestinvest’s report found that Swip topped the list of asset managers with four dog funds, including the £1.4bn Scottish Widows UK Growth unit trust.

The firm has been building its teams in areas other than equities. In October, it boosted its 43-strong real estate team. The firm also recruited managers to its fixed income and risk teams last year.

However, a significant proportion of its estimated £139.9bn of assets under management is in equities.