Schroders announced that it is set to appoint CFO Richard Oldfield as chief executive when Peter Harrison retires next year. According to a report in the Financial Times, Oldfield will take on the top job at the £774bn asset manager after joining from big four accounting firm PwC last October. Oldfield spent more than two decades at PwC before making the move to Schroders.
He was said to have been in competition with two other internal candidates for the role ? global CIO Johanna Kyrklund and group COO Meagen Burnett. During Harrison?s eight year tenure as CEO, the firm?s assets have more than doubled.
But its share price has disappointed, with a dip of more than 20% since Harrison took the reins in April 2016. Harrison joined Schroders in 2013 from RWC Partners. He became CEO just before the Brexit referendum.