"And I think we often get more time with them than we would in London."
He says: "They don’t pack so many slots into each day. I know some of our managers like being away from the noise of the City and feel that looking at markets from a different angle can give them an edge. In that sense, having a foot in both camps gives us the best of both worlds.
"And then there’s the appeal of Edinburgh as a place to work and live.
"I may have reservations on a cold grey Edinburgh day, but over the summer months it’s a fabulous place to be, with proximity to spectacular beaches and countryside. Many of our managers wouldn’t want to live anywhere else."
"Having an office in Edinburgh has helped us attract and keep really talented people over the years. And I don’t just mean fund managers – we’ve got some great staff in other roles here in Edinburgh who are vital to the efficient and effective running of our business.”
Comprehensive recruitment programmes
Another of the fabled names of Edinburgh financial services is Standard Life, which firstly merged with Abrdn and then the insurance divisions were sold to Phoenix Group, a FTSE 100 closed book insurer.
The company still maintains its headquarters in Edinburgh’s west end, about 15 minutes walk from the historic Standard Life premises on George Street.
The workplace pensions business it runs from Edinburgh administers assets of £57.5bn, with its master trust recently growing above £10bn in size.
Gail Izat, managing director of this business within Standard Life, tells FT Adviser that a feature of the company continues to be that a large proportion of the staff are “lifers”, or have worked at the company for multiple decades.
She says that in Edinburgh “it’s unusual really not to know someone that works for Standard Life”.
As part of their efforts to maintain this, Standard Life continues to run not just a graduate scheme but also a school leavers programme.
It has also partnered with the Department for Work and Pensions on an initiative to help local, jobless, over 50s return to the workforce.
Izat says: “Its a case that with a lot of the over-50s they have lost a little bit of confidence, but can make a valuable contribution to a company.”
The other feature Standard Life has instigated at its Edinburgh office is its innovation lab, where new ways of communicating with clients and training colleagues using virtual reality are trialled.
