Abrdn boss Stephen Bird is leaving the CEO role with immediate effect, after a four-year run in charge in which shares tumbled, funds underperformed and the firm was ‘bullied’ for the ‘disemvowelled’ rebrand that Bird oversaw.
Bird, who joined in 2020 from Citigroup, led Abrdn during a difficult period as much cheaper index funds have made Abrdn’s offering of active funds look much less attractive.
The shares are down 50% since February 2021 and the majority of Abrdn’s assets underperformed their benchmarks over the past three years. The business announced hundreds of job cuts earlier this year. Assets under management fell by 8% in 2022 and another 1.2% in 2023.
Bird’s best-known accomplishment was changing the firm’s name from Standard Life Aberdeen after the Standard Life business was sold off, removing all the vowels from Aberdeen except the one at the start. The so-called ‘disemvowelling’ was widely mocked, prompting the firm’s chief investment officer Peter Branner last month to accuse critics of “corporate bullying”. Bird also led the £1.49 billion acquisition of Interactive Investor.
Finance boss Jason Windsor takes over as interim CEO from today as the business looks for a full-time replacement. A spokesperson said there are no plans currently in place to review the unpopular rebrand under a new boss.
Bird - who will stay with the business in a transition role until 30 June - will have good leaver status. He made £2.1 million last year, including an £800,000 bonus and will be handed a year’s pay for his notice period when he leaves. During the previous two-and-a-half years in charge he made £5.5 million. If all of that was invested in the abrdn China A Share Equity fund - the City’s worst-performing fund in 2023 according to Morningstar - he would be left with £3.6 million.
Abrdn chair Sir Douglas Flint said: “On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Stephen for everything he has achieved at abrdn over the last four years.
“He joined us as the pandemic took hold and, despite the restrictions this imposed, spearheaded a fundamental reshaping of the company, leading from the front to create a company that can be competitive in a fast-evolving sector.
“Adapting the inherited business model to be capable of generating sustainable and profitable growth required strategic vision, intense hard work and the courage to make tough but necessary decisions.”
Bird said: “It has been a privilege to lead abrdn through an intensely challenging time in our industry and I am grateful to my colleagues for their support and commitment to serving our clients with distinction.
“I leave the company well positioned, having embedded greater diversification of revenues, retained a strong capital position and, most importantly, developed a refreshed leadership team which is ready and eager to take on the challenge of realising abrdn's full potential.”
Today Abrdn shares rose by 1.9% to 159p in an otherwise rough day on the markets. That values Abrdn at £2.9 billion.
