Cazenove opened an office in Hong Kong, its first in Asia, in April 2013. Three months later, Schroders bought the firm for £425m with the aim of growing its private wealth management business.
The Cazenove branding also applies to Schroders’ private wealth management business in Singapore, which is about five years old.
Dudgeon explained that the name recognition of the two firms, both with histories dating back to the 19th century, required a clear separation of the private wealth business.
“Cazenove has an open architecture approach when managing money for clients. We do want to distinguish ourselves from the institutional part of the business, which is clearly providing funds to other wealth managers and to other parts of the wealth management business.”
The private wealth business is also regulated separately from Schroders, Dudgeon added.
However, Cazenove has found certain synergies with Schroders.
“We can and do take advantage of Schroders’ investment strengths and resources,” he said. “There is also stability of ownership which we benefit from. Schroders is 47% family owned. A private client business, privately owned, joining a public company where the largest shareholder is a family and has been for years, gives a great deal of comfort to clients.
“The challenge [after the acquisition] is to keep putting clients first as you keep getting bigger. We work hard at that.”
Hong Kong build up
Dudgeon said the Hong Kong business has picked up “faster than expected” though he did not provide details. All of Cazenove’s business in Hong Kong is discretionary, he added.
“Contrary to some views, there is an appetite for discretionary services [in Hong Kong]. We’ve been flattered by the number of people who have asked us to act for them.
“We’re also the largest manager of charities in the UK and that has made it very straightforward to promote our services to charities in Asia. That’s been an unexpected bonus.”
Cazenove has $50bn in assets under management in its wealth management division, though the figure is not broken down for Asia.
Schroders, in a first half financial results statement released in July, reported revenue and profit gains for its wealth management division, which reflected the inclusion of the Cazenove purchase.
Net revenues were £100m, up 88% and profit before tax and exceptional items was £26.3m, up about 100% compared to the first half in 2013.
