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Turbulent times continue at Credit Suisse as Francis jumps ship

A year after inheriting all Credit Suisses flagship 1.1bn Income, 377m Monthly Income and 127m Alpha Income funds from Leigh Harrison, Errol Francis is departing for Schroders.

When he starts in the new year, he will team up with Schroders UK equity head Richard Buxton on some of his retail offerings.

Bill Mott, who only announced his retirement from Credit Suisse last month, has once again resumed his caretaker role on the income funds while the firm recruits a new manager. In light of the changes, IFA firm Hargreaves Lansdown is writing to all clients in the funds advising them to switch, while Bestinvest has flagged the portfolios as sells for several years, as the lack of manager continuity has impacted performance since Mott resigned the first time from day-to-day management in 1996.

This is yet another reason not to stay in these funds, particularly with such exceptional talent in the equity income sector as Anthony Nutt on Jupiter Income, Adrian Frost on Artemis Income and Invesco Perpetuals Neil Woodford, said Justin Modray, an investment adviser at Bestinvest.

Meanwhile, Investec Asset Management has decided to bring its European and GSF Continental European funds in-house. This comes after four years of poor returns under Albert Morillo at BlackRock International, who has been lead manager on the funds since they were outsourced to the company in April 2000. Both funds will be managed by Investecs 4Factor equity team when the change comes into effect on 1 January next year.

Elsewhere, smaller companies specialist Chris Hutchinson has become lead manager of the 23.2m Unicorn Free Spirit fund, which he had been running with Unicorn Asset Managements founder and chief investment officer Peter Webb since joining the firm in January 2006 from Montanaro Investment Managers.

And Derek Lygo, former head of UK equities at First State Investments and one-time manager of the Dresdner RCM UK Mid-Cap fund, has joined the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) team at Morley. He will manage the SRI Long/Short Cell of the Morley Alternative Investment Strategy fund.