UK – ISIS Asset Management has appointed Schroders’ Fahim Imam-Sadeque to build on its institutional insurance business as more insurers are beginning to outsource investment management activities.

Imam-Sadeque will hold the position of director, head of institutional funds at ISIS, and will report to Robert Matthews, director and head of institutional business. He will spearhead the group’s efforts to attract outsourced funds from UK and European insurers

Prior to joining ISIS, Imam-Sadeque was at Schroders, where he most recently held the position of director in the global multi-asset team. There he was responsible for the management of balanced and tailored mandates for continental European clients.

Said Matthews: “ISIS already manages a number of insurance funds and we plan to make this a key area of our business going forward. We’re beginning to see a revolution in this area. ”

An increasing number of smaller insurance companies worldwide are beginning to look at outsourcing investment management activities. Matthews attributes this to several factors:

Regulation is becoming increasingly burdensome for insurers
Cost-control
Poor performance by investment departments
Inability to attract high quality staff
A return to focus on core business

The end result being that insurers are looking now to sub-contract investment management, he says.

ISIS Asset Management has over 58.5 billion pounds (81.6 billion euros) in assets under management as at 31 March 2003.

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