Schroder sale a bonus in Australia

Schroders Investment Management has welcomed the news that its British parent is to offload its global investment banking business to Salomon Smith Barney.

Schroders Investment Management has welcomed the news that its British parent is to offload its global investment banking business to Salomon Smith Barney.

Schroders director Stephen O’Brien says the sale of the investment bank will allow the group to focus on its asset management business. Schroder’s investment banking operations in Australia mainly consisted of treasury activities.

News of the sale comes as Schroder’s Australian funds management business has gained approval from its London-based parent to invest heavily in client services and marketing.

O’Brien says the approval is a green light for Schroders to take its retail funds man-agement business up a notch. He says the group is looking to grow its business devel-opment and adviser services division from four staff to about 10, under the guidance of business development executive Adam Coughlan.

Schroder’s retail strategy will target master trusts and selected adviser groups. The group has already established itself as gold sponsor of AMP Financial Planning and is listed on 23 master trust menus.

O’Brien says the group plans to roll out a steady stream of new funds over the coming year, including a global technology fund due for launch in March.

Evidence of the renewed emphasis being placed on the Australian operations is also demonstrated by the appointment of Australian operations managing director Nicky Richards, according to O’Brien. Richards was previously one of the most senior ex-ecutives of the group worldwide.

Richards started at the group this week at the same time as Schroders announced the sale of investment banking arm to Salomon Smith Barney for $US2.16 billion.

Schroders says the one of the reasons behind the deal was Schroders' inability to penetrate the key US market and Salomon Smith Barney's efforts to expand into Europe.

The Schroder family, which owns almost 48 percent of the British bank, says it will now focus on asset management and private banking. The group has about $320 bil-lion under management worldwide, including about $4.5 billion in Australia.