Ralston quits Schroders to spend time with family

One of the Square Mile's most powerful women is leaving Schroders, the fund manager, to spend more time being a mum. Nicola Ralston, like her namesake Nicola Horlick, achieved fame for juggling a City career with bringing up a family.

She is to step down as Schroders' global head of investment strategy and research in September, ending a 22-year career at the firm.

The move was a blow to Schroders, which promoted 46-year-old Mrs Ralston to the job two years ago to revive the flagging performance of its £135bn in funds under management.

"It gets harder as the children get older. I want more time to spend with them individually," she said. "It's tempting to think of the idea but never to do it."

Mrs Ralston, whose three children are all younger than 10, said she was looking for "remunerative" work, possibly in consultancy or as a non-executive director.

Schroders named three people to succeed her: Susan Haroun and David Gasparro as co-heads of investment and Timothy Pettee in equity research.