Lombard Odier fires 34 from London unit

Lombard has axed 34 jobs in London following its decision to centralise equity operations in Geneva.

The change follows poor performance for some UK-based equity products and the departure of several UK managers last year.

Lombard will make four managers redundant as well as two executives in risk control. Its London-based share dealing operation is being wound down and back office jobs will be lost.

Fabricio Pierallini, Lombard Odier's head of international equities, will move to Geneva with other members of his team.

Jean Keller, Lombard Odier's managing director in London, confirmed that his firm needed to save money in a difficult market.

However, he added: "Fabricio and I believe that it makes sense to manage equities in a single location. We shall be maintaining a London presence following the move of members of our bond team from Zurich to London. It remains our policy to be involved with institutional business."

Gartmore Investment Management, owned by US financial group Nationwide, has laid off 30 staff as part of a redundancy programme that will see its staff numbers fall by 80 to 700 by the end of the year.

The most high-profile of those to leave last week was Ann Steele, a member of the European equity team. Richard Evans, lead manager on the firm's 106m (€149m) global opportunities fund, has also gone. Tim Dainton, UK equity team member, and Julian Sinclair, head of global research, have departed.

A spokeswoman said the remainder of the redundancies would occur through natural turnover, mostly in its London headquarters.

Aberdeen Asset Management is also continuing with its rationalisation programme.

Aberdeen's emerging market bond funds have been picked up by Convivo Capital Management. British Land remains the favourite to buy Aberdeen's highly-rated property business.

Apart from redundancies, investment managers are trying to save money by merging or closing unprofitable funds.

Last week, Amvescap closed funds totalling $79m (€67m) in Singapore. The firm is pushing a further 20 funds in the UK and America into other vehicles, and making several fund managers redundant as a result.

In a survey published this week, Boston Consulting Group said 40% of fund management groups were are either unprofitable or barely profitable.

It said fund management firms were failing to market their products in an effective fashionç.