Brian Quinn: non-executive director.
GLASGOW-based Britannia Investment Managers (BIM) announced yesterday that it had increased first-quarter funds inflow, from corporate pension funds and retail customers, by 130% to #235.3m.
Managing director Danny O'Neil said that it was already #300m ahead of the latest of the monthly targets it set as part of its three-year plan to increase funds under management from #5900m to at least #10bn by the end of the year 2000.
The vast bulk of this #300m overshoot is the result of a surging stock market but BIM looks well on track to beat this year's #800m new funds target. At its March 31 quarter-end, BIM had about #6660m under management.
O'Neil also revealed that BIM was one of two fund managers left in the running for a #200m-plus segregated pension fund mandate. Segregated funds are managed separately for clients by investment houses, rather than being run with other corporate pension scheme money in a ''pooled'', unit trust-type fund.
BIM's acquisition and retention of #800m of funds from the now-defunct Scottish Amicable Investment Managers last year, #350m of it segregated, has helped it gain the critical mass needed to persuade notoriously conservative consulting actuaries to give it the more sizeable segregated business.
Since March 31, it has secured a #35m segregated mandate from an undisclosed client.
Pension fund inflow, which amounted to #77.6m in the first quarter of last year, was #184.6m this time round. First-quarter sales of unit trusts and personal equity plans (PEPs), primarily through Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) but also through BIM parent Britannia Building Society's branches and direct sales, rose from #24.9m to #50.7m.
BIM yesterday announced the appointment of Brian Quinn, part-time chairman of Nomura Bank International and formerly an executive director of the Bank of England, as a non-executive director. He is a director of Celtic football club.
The success of BIM, which may be renamed Britannia Asset Management in the third quarter, is in stark contrast to the fortunes of sister company Britannia Life. The struggling Glasgow-based life office was forced in December to exit the IFA market, with the axing of up to 420 of its 800-strong workforce.
Of BIM's current funds, about #2900m is managed on behalf of the life office. Pooled pension funds total about #2200m, segregated money comes to #620m, unit trusts and PEPs account for #940m, and #90m is in Britannia Smaller Companies investment trust.
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