Aviva Investors' Leadsom: We do not want a 'me too' GARS product

As Aviva Investors prepares for the arrival of its new CEO Euan Munro, Jeremy Leadsom, sales director for UK financial institutions, has played down its plans to launch a GARS-style product in the new year.

Revealing the business' priorities in 2014, Leadsom said the multi-asset proposition, which was recently split into retail and institutional divisions, would be core to what it does. However, Leadsom said the firm is not planning to copy Standard Life Investments’ popular Global Absolute Return Strategies (GARS) product when Munro, one of its original founders, takes on his new role in January. “We want to get ahead of the curve, so it would be stupid not to think about using Euan’s expertise,” he said. “But we do not want to launch a ‘me too’ product, so we will think carefully befor...