Rebooting the global asset management industry

Rebooting the global asset management industry 5 Acknowledgements The global asset management industry is in the midst of a reset. The profit dynamic is worsening with the rise of passive funds. Defined Benefit pension plans are now derisking with ageing demographics. The investor base is shifting towards a new generation of digitally savvy investors with radically different needs from their predecessors. Technology is advancing in leaps and bounds. Regulators are becoming onerous with the personalization of risk. Markets are in a low real return era after the longest bull run in history. This report aims to showhowasset managers in 26 key fund jurisdictions are adapting by adjusting their sails. My foremost thanks go to 269 asset managers who participated in our survey and to those who were also engaged in the follow-up structured interviews. Many of them have been regular participants since the current survey series started in 2000. They and others have helped to create an impartial and widely used research platform. The resulting publications are listed at the end of this report. I would also like to thank Citi’s Investor Services , for sponsoring the publication of this report, without influencing its findings in any way. It has been an enormous privilege to work with them since 2006 on various research studies on the future of asset management. Their arms-length involvement has helped to canvass a wide spectrum of views to deliver an independent assessment. My grateful thanks also go to IPE for helping to conduct the survey and especially to its editor Liam Kennedy for his wise counsel and unstinting encouragement throughout the history of this series. Finally, I would like to thank my colleagues who helped at every stage of the research programwith their customary zeal and diligence: Anna Godden for desk work, Lisa Terrett for survey management, Dr Elizabeth Goodhew for editorial support and Naz Rajan for data analysis. After all the help I have received, if there are errors or omissions in the report, I am solely responsible. Amin Rajan Project Leader CREATE-Research “The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The realist adjusts the sails.” William Arthur Ward