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By Amy-Jo Crowley, Iain Withers and Stefania Spezzati
LONDON (Reuters) - When Schroders CEO Richard Oldfield presents his revamp of the 221-year-old British fund manager next week, one group of investors will be watching more closely than usual: the founding family.
Oldfield, at the helm since November, is expected to outline cost cuts and prioritise areas where Schroders is growing, such as wealth and private markets, according to three people close to the firm.
Some representatives of the influential Schroder family have challenged executives to improve the company's performance faster after a poor run of earnings, the sources said. Schroders' stock fell 25% last year, a third straight annual decline that returned share prices to 2020 levels.
Oldfield, who joined Schroders as finance director in 2023, has the board's backing and will be given time to pursue his strategy, according to two of the sources.
Schroders' shares have risen 15% this year ahead of the review.
Schroders declined to comment.
The family holds significant sway at the company, with a 44% stake and two representatives on the board, including Leonie Schroder, the daughter of late City grandee Bruno Schroder who held the seat for 56 years before her.
The board is having to contend with a rapidly changing industry and is challenging executives about the trajectory of the firm, the people said.
The likes of BlackRock, Vanguard and Amundi have hoovered up assets through low-cost passive funds, leaving mid-sized fund firms including Schroders losing clients and raising doubts about their long-term independence.
Schroders' core business remains actively managed stocks and bonds, but it has tried to bulk up in areas that generate higher fees, including in wealth and private markets, aided by acquisitions including wealth manager Cazenove in 2013, and infrastructure investor Greencoat in 2021.
Its wealth assets under management have grown more than two-thirds since 2020 to 121.3 billion pounds.
Founded in 1804 when Johann Heinrich Schroder, a member of Hamburg's elite, joined forces in London with his brother Johann Friedrich, Schroders financed transatlantic trade before moving into corporate finance and managing investments for the well-heeled.
In more recent times, Bruno Schroder represented one wing of the family for decades, while the late George Mallinckrodt, who married Bruno's sister Charmaine and later became executive chairman, represented the other. Mallinckrodt's son Philip took over his seat, before his sister, Claire Fitzalan Howard, succeeded him in 2020.