‘Job one – take on Vanguard’: Abrdn targets DIY investor dominance with new growth push
Asset manager Abrdn said it is looking to take on US investment giant Vanguard today as it kicks off a growth drive in its personal wealth division.
Abrdn chief Stephen Bird and personal wealth boss Richard Wilson this afternoon set out the vowel-stripped investor’s plans for domination in DIY investing with a host of new products on its flagship platform Interactive Investor.
Edinburgh-based Abrdn has been angling for growth in the retail investment and wealth management market after snapping up digital retail platform Interactive Investor in May 2022 for £1.5bn.
Speaking with City PM today, Wilson joked “job one” was taking on the US investment giant Vanguard which has some $1.5trn dollars under management.
He added that the UK investment landscape was now “catching up” with the US as Brits take a more active interest in the markets.
“Making your long term saving outcome your problem as an individual is a seismic shift compared to 25 years ago, where everyone was on the [defined benefit pension] thing. No one really cared,” Wilson said.
“I see that as one of the most powerful structural changes [in the UK]. When I was working in the US 20 years ago, people were chit chatting at lunchtime about what their 401 K’s were invested in.”
UK retail investors still lag globally in terms of cash invested, however. New research yesterday found that Brits were the worst investors in Europe and had some £1.8bn sitting idly in savings accounts.
The Interactive Investor platform proved to be a bright spot for Abrdn last year as the firm was rocked by outflows and slumped to a pre-tax loss of £615m in 2022.
Interactive Investor meanwhile notched a 38 per cent surge in revenues to £176m while operating profits more than doubled to £94m.
Abrdn’s value has swung over the past year but is trading up 13 per cent since January. Investors were unsettled by the growth push announced today however as shares dipped three per cent.