Q&A with Martin Gilbert: The future of wealth & asset management, the legacy of Covid-19 and lessons from Woodford

How will the industry shape up post-pandemic?

Martin Gilbert, founder and former CEO of Aberdeen Asset Management, spoke to editor-in-chief Katrina Lloyd at Investment Week's recent Funds to Watch Spring Conference about his career, the evolution of the asset & wealth management sectors in the UK, the outlook for boutiques, the big questions on ESG and his market views.

You stepped down as chairman of Aberdeen Standard Investments in September last year. Looking back over the period following the merger of Aberdeen Asset Management with Standard Life, what do you see as your biggest challenges there and your biggest achievements? I think mergers are difficult to accomplish so I would say probably the biggest challenge that Keith Skeoch and I had was how we would merge the businesses and try to keep the culture intact. I also quickly realised that going from working at Aberdeen to Standard Life Aberdeen was very different and probably not for me. I am ...