GAM Holdings has announced the promotion of Sally Orton to group chief financial officer (CFO) from her current position of deputy CFO.

She takes over from Richard McNamara, who will step down at the end of 2022, having joined the company in 2015.

Orton will also be appointed as a member of the group management board, effective immediately.

Peter Sanderson, CEO of GAM Investments, said: “I am delighted that Sally has been appointed group CFO and would like to warmly welcome her to the group management board. I would also like to thank Richard for his enormous contribution to GAM over the last seven years.

“Sally has held the role of deputy CFO since earlier this year, has extensive experience in asset management and is an invaluable member of our senior team.”

The appointment comes as the firm announces it has €85 billion in total AUM, which had decreased from GAM’s reported figures on 31 December 2021, when it had €102 billion in AUM. 

The firm said negative market movements of €12.6 billion and foreign exchange of €0.7 billion accounted for almost 80% of the reduction in AUM.

The firm’s investment figures performed well, however, with 73% of investment management AUM outperforming their benchmark over three years.

Speaking about GAM’s financial performance, Sanderson said: “GAM’s business performance was resilient in the face of the extraordinary economic and geopolitical conditions during the first half of 2022. Despite clients being cautious in the face of market volatility, we are encouraged to see them allocating to a number of our diverse, high-conviction active strategies.   

“We continue to take action to reduce our costs given the decrease in our revenues. We are confident that our approach to active management is well placed to assist our clients in the current market environment.”

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