Star fund manager Tim Albrecht is leaving DWS and the financial industry.
(Photo: REUTERS)
Frankfurt The fund company DWS and one of its renowned fund managers are going their separate ways: “After 25 years of service to the Deutsche Bank Group and DWS, Tim Albrecht has decided to leave the company and the financial industry at the end of March,” says an internal statement , which is available to the Handelsblatt. Albrecht managed the DWS Germany fund for many years.
Since he took over as head of portfolio management for DWS Germany in 2002, the assets under management for this product have increased significantly, combined with strong long-term performance, the statement said. “Tim is a highly respected portfolio manager in the industry and is known for his passion for German equities and the Eintracht Frankfurt football team.”
The message did not give any reasons for Albrecht’s departure. However, earlier statements by CEO Stefan Hoops about the performance culture at DWS and the performance of the Albrecht funds raise the question of whether the departure was entirely voluntary.
For a long time, Albrecht was considered the star of DWS and was one of the best-known fund managers in Germany. More recently, however, his funds have underperformed, which may be the reason for Albrecht’s departure. At the investor day in December, the new DWS boss Hoops promised a “high-performance culture” for the Deutsche Bank subsidiary.
Most recently, the flagship fund DWS Deutschland managed by Albrecht could no longer claim this label: last year it achieved a negative return of 22 percent, which was still below the average loss in value of equity funds generally investing in Germany of minus 18 percent.
The rating agency Scope also gave Albrecht’s DWS flagship fund only a “D” rating, which stands for “below average”. The Scope Fund Analysis rating evaluates the short and long-term investment performance as well as the volatility of the share price.
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After several changes at management level, the separation from Albrecht is the most prominent personnel decision made by CEO Hoops, who has been in office since June. Hoops’ predecessor Asoka Wöhrmann had just prevented Albrecht’s departure shortly after taking office at DWS. Actually, his move to Berenberg Bank had already been decided.
Wöhrmann had stuck with Albrecht, even when he was criticized in 2019 because he had invested disproportionately heavily in shares of the now insolvent payment service provider Wirecard with his funds.
“I believe in active fund managers who admit mistakes and learn from them. Tim Albrecht made a mistake, admitted it, took responsibility, but then also developed a willingness to fight, as the good development of his funds shows,” Wöhrmann said in an interview with the Handelsblatt in 2021. Despite the Wirecard bankruptcy, Albrecht’s funds still beat their benchmark, the HDax.
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