But the board, headed by chair Sir Douglas Flint, opted to continue with the existing turnaround plan, rather than shrink the group and return more capital to shareholders.

“They believed Abrdn was fundamentally an asset management business,” said one person with knowledge of the debate.

Other executives who supported a disposal said it would be welcomed by investors and analysts, some of whom had been pressing for more radical action to revive the group’s sagging share price. The executives said that the stock market was ascribing little value to the investment business, which has limited crossovers with Abrdn’s platforms for retail investors and financial advisers.

David McCann, an analyst at Deutsche Numis, has argued that the group should be broken up and is “worth more dead than alive”.

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At the time of the strategic review, Bird was concerned that the headwinds faced by the investment business would worsen, according to people he talked to.

His concerns proved justified, as the rise in interest rates has sucked funds out of managers of risk assets. Abrdn has suffered continued outflows, with operating profit from the investment arm tumbling by two-thirds to £26m in the first half of this year — just 20% of the group total.

Bird has strongly backed retaining the investment business since last year’s decision by the board. He now says it gives the group more stability of earnings across the economic cycle. The rise in interest rates that hit the investment business provided a windfall of income on clients’ cash deposits for the Interactive Investor platform. When interest rates fall, these trends should reverse, he says.

Bird said when he presented the group’s half-year results in August that it was on track to cut £75m of costs from the investment business this year.

It would accomplish this by closing or merging the scores of funds inherited when Standard Life and Aberdeen merged in 2017.

Further cuts are promised and Bird recently hired Boston Consulting Group to identify cost reductions at a group level.

Critics claim that cost-cutting in the investment business has badly damaged morale without properly addressing the operational complexity that resulted from the large number of acquisitions made by Abrdn.

Meanwhile, Bird is promising more bolt-on purchases like the recent acquisition of US healthcare fund manager Tekla Capital Management.

Abrdn declined to offer Bird for interview. However, it told FN in a statement: “Strategy is about asking questions and testing alternatives. We do that in every strategy session. We have an agreed strategic direction that we are executing against at pace. Investment management is the core of our business, and we are making it more efficient and more relevant to our clients.”

To contact the author of this story with feedback or news, email David Wighton