LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - Britain's Schroders and Ashmore on Thursday reported increased client withdrawals in March due to market volatility sparked by the Iran war, leading to net outflows at both money managers over the first three months of 2026.
Although stock markets have rebounded in recent days after the U.S. and Iran reached a two-week ceasefire, which could improve the picture for investors, huge uncertainties remain.
"As tensions escalated in the Middle East, client sentiment shifted to a more risk-off stance amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty," said Schroders CEO Richard Oldfield.
Shares in emerging markets-focused Ashmore fell by nearly 5% in early trading, while Schroders, which will put a 9.9 billion pound ($13.4 billion) takeover by U.S. asset manager Nuveen to a shareholder vote later on Thursday, was flat.
Active stock-pickers like Schroders and Ashmore have been squeezed by competition from larger U.S. rivals such as BlackRock and Vanguard offering cheaper index-trackers, although many enjoyed improved momentum last year on rallying markets.
Schroders said strong client demand continued into the first two months of 2026, but this was more than offset by withdrawals in March sparked by market volatility caused by the conflict.
This led to net outflows of 1.1 billion pounds ($1.5 billion) for the first quarter, Schroders said. Its assets under management dipped 1% to 814.4 billion pounds over the period.
Ashmore reported net outflows of $900 million for the third quarter of its fiscal year from January to March, adding that some clients had adopted a "wait and see" approach.
Analysts at Panmure Gordon said Ashmore's figures were weighed by a specific institutional redemption and that it was still well-placed to benefit from any further diversification away from the U.S. market.
Premier Miton also reported net outflows of 443 million pounds for the quarter, which it said was exacerbated by a pullback in risk appetite and higher redemptions in March.
The smaller British group said it would revise its strategy to cut costs and simplify the business due to the challenging market for active managers.
($1 = 0.7364 pounds)
(Reporting by Iain Withers in London and Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Rishab Shaju in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Alexander Smith)
By Iain Withers and Yamini Kalia
