Scottish Widows Investment Partnership is cutting 23 jobs from its equity team.

The firm is to reposition its equity business, worth £54bn, to focus on global and specialist active equities and quantitative equities.

As a result, smaller regional equity funds will be closed as well as some smaller funds that are no longer economically viable.

Swip currently employs 38 fund managers on the equity team but could not confirm if all the cuts would be fund manager roles.

It was also unable to confirm which specific equity funds would be closing and said the information would not be available until next week.

The process is expected to take several months and staff will be redeployed in other roles in the firm. Swip currently employs over 500 people with offices in Edinburgh, London and New York.

The firm said it had seen a ‘clear divide’ between clients seeking high-alpha solution and those seeking a lower-risk strategy through quantitative-based approaches.

Dean Buckley, managing director of Swip, said: “We remain committed to active fund management in those markets where we have confidence we can generate strong investment performance and build long-term valuable relationships with clients.

“However for some of our clients, a lower-risk approach to investment is more appropriate for their needs.

“By repositioning our equities business, investing in our multi-asset capability and continuing to build on the success of our fixed income and real estate teams, I believe we will add value for our clients whilst also enabling the continued growth and success of the business.”

Andrew November will remain as director of equities and has appointed Will Low as head of global equities. Sean Phayre will head the quantitative investment team.