Pre-tax profits at UK fund manager Schroders dropped 68% last year to £123.1m (€136.1m) following losing bets on start-up hedge funds and losses in private equity, which outweighed a reasonably robust performance in its core businesses. For the first time in 11 years, the asset manager took in more money from UK pension schemes than it lost.

Pre-tax profits at the asset management division, which manages £98.5bn of Schroders' total £110.2bn of assets, fell only 6% to £250m. Schroders said that both institutional clients -such as pension schemes- and retail investors continued to pull money away during last year, with a net £10bn withdrawn.