In June, it was announced that RLAM had appointed Kevin Haran from Affiliated Managers Group (AMG) as head of regional sales as it opens a dedicated Australian office.
RLAM is the asset management arm of the UK's largest mutually owned pension and investment company and has $365 billion in assets under management as of 30 June 2025. With a background in pensions, parent company Royal London Group has 8.6 million life and pension policies in force across both personal and workplace pensions.
Haran said while the initial focus of the international expansion is on funds for wholesale investors, it is also meeting with superannuation funds to discuss retirement income and whether the Royal London products would work in the Australian marketplace.
With thousands of Australians set to enter the retirement decumulation products, firms such as Challenger, Generation Life, BlackRock and TAL have all been actively launching offerings in this space such as annuities and lifetime income products.
Speaking to Investor Daily’s sister title Money Management, Haran said: “We are talking to superannuation funds about retirement products and will make an assessment on whether there is demand there.”
Unlike Australia, the UK pension marketplace is primarily defined contribution schemes and it lacks the same mandatory contribution practice as superannuation funds.
Meanwhile, it plans to launch the two unit trusts at the end of November which will be Australian versions of existing UK vehicles and will receive seeding from the UK business to allow them to get up and running straightaway.
While the firm is best known for its expertise in global equities, it is understood conversations with potential investors indicate this asset class is less attractive in this current period of global volatility and the exit of multiple RLAM managers.
Last year, the firm hit an obstacle when it lost several members of its flagship global equities team as senior portfolio manager Peter Rutter set up his own firm called Life Cycle Investment Partners, backed by Australia’s Pinnacle Investment Management.
Haran said: “We are best known for global equities with a long-term focus but clients are concerned about it and it is a challenging place right now. But they are still interested in the core space which is less driven by stylistic themes and uses the life cycle philosophy and we feel those products have a relevant role in portfolios.
“We also want to offer a competitive fee structure as we are a mutual.”
The RLAM global equities funds were previously distributed by Ironbark Asset Management in Australia but the exit of multiple managers prompted the cessation of this relationship when Ironbark withdrew a $3 billion investment mandate.
