The asset management firm is trying to fight back after suffering a share price slump and exodus of client money after a prominent manager was dismissed.

Zurich-listed GAM Holding, hit by a share price slump and heavy client outflows amid the suspension of a senior manager last year, has proposed to elect three senior asset managers to to join its board of directors.

Katia Coudray, Jacqui Irvine and Monika Machon have been proposed as members, subject to customary regulatory approval. The three nominees will replace Diego du Monceau, Ezra S Field and Monica Mächler, who have decided not to stand for re-election at the upcoming AGM scheduled for 8 May.

Hugh Scott-Barrett is proposed for re-election as chairman, and Benjamin Meuli, Nancy Mistretta and David J Jacob have been proposed as members of the board of directors.

Coudray was CEO of SYZ Asset Management, a position she held from 2015 to 2018. Prior to that, she was head of investment and head of product development at SYZ Group. Before joining that firm in 2011, Coudray was head of the multi-management and innovation platform at Union Bancaire Privée for ten years, and worked at other financial institutions in the fund area before that.

Irvine was group general counsel and company secretary of Janus Henderson Group until 2018. She was in the same role at Henderson Group, which she joined in 1996 from 2011 until the merger with Janus Capital Group in 2017. Jacqui qualified as a solicitor in 2000 and holds a BA in law and psychology from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, a postgraduate diploma in law from the University of the West of England in Bristol, as well as a postgraduate diploma in legal practice from the College of Law in London.

Machon was a senior vice president and treasurer at AIG from 2013 to 2016. Prior to that, she held other senior positions within the AIG group, which she joined in 1998, including chief investment officer and global head of asset management, head of fixed income and CEO of AIG Investments Europe. Before joining AIG, Monika held banking and investment positions at various financial institutions in the US and the UK.

Investors pulled billions from GAM’s Absolute Return Bond fund range after the unit’s manager, Tim Haywood, was suspended in late 2017. The firm launched a probe into Haywood's conduct in the summer of 2018 after concerns about his activity were flagged by an internal whistleblower. At the time of Haywood’s suspension in late July, GAM said that it acted because “some of his risk management procedures and his record keeping in certain instances” fell short of requirements. One casualty of the affair was Alex Friedman, its chief executive, who resigned.

In its 2018 financial results statement, GAM said: "Following the conclusion of the investigation and the disciplinary proceedings, the suspended investment director has now been dismissed from the company for gross misconduct. There was serious failure to achieve the standard of skill and care which were to be expected of someone in his position."

It is reported that Haywood is contesting the matter. One report quoted Haywood as saying: "I am being made a scapegoat in this process and intend to appeal this decision, which has been prejudged since the announcement of my suspension. I dispute many of the findings, while noting the majority of allegations have been dropped. The overall employment process has been unfair in its application, failed to resolve conflicts of interest, left uncorrected errors in my assessment and is discriminatory in nature.”