Cazenove Capital Management of the UK has said its assets under management dropped 3.5 per cent to £10.9 billion ($15.4 billion) at the end of 2008, althought the firm also reported an increase in new customer inflows of £1 billion.

A breakdown of assets under management saw private wealth management comprise £4.9 billion, investment funds £3.6 billion and charities £2.4 billion.

"Our approach to managing assets has defensive attributes which our clients appreciate and which work well in tougher climates. Judging by our continued positive inflows, the success of this approach is clearly being recognised by the wider market," said Andrew Ross, chief executive.

Last year the investment funds side of the business grew by approximately 10 per cent on the back of strong performance across UK and European equities, the multi-manager range and credit, the group says. 

Cazenove's five UK and European long/short equity funds also posted positive returns for the year, ranging from 9.4 per cent  to 16 per cent in sterling for the UK funds and from 11.6 per cent to 15.7 per cent in euros for the European funds.

Cazenove is one of the oldest names in the UK financial community, tracing its origins back to 1823.