Trustee and Fiduciary Services Global Asset Management Industry Insights

Global Asset Management Industry Insights 19 FUTURE-PROOFING YOUR WORKFORCE The ability to differentiate your offering from your competitors, to stand out from the crowd, is as important to asset management as to any other business. To do this, firms need to understand their clients, their competitors and the environment in which they operate. What skill sets (pick two) will become increasingly valuable to the asset management industry? Q11 We are interested to understand what skill sets asset managers will need in the future to get a competitive edge and, perhaps unsurprisingly, data scientists and ESG specialists each attract 65% of the responses. The increasing demand from regulators and investors for firms to engage with ESG matters will see the need for experts in this area, and this is reflected in the earlier survey response on investment strategies, with sustainable investing achieving a 96% result. The results also indicate that asset managers know that analysis of the masses of data they hold will aid in the development of new products and improved customer outcomes. However, it’s not enough just to create a fund and hope people will buy into it. Asset managers need to understand their clients. In recent years, this has resulted in increased use of behavioural science, with regulators and firms trying to understand why investors make the choices they do. With 43% of respondents highlighting behavioural science, this isn’t a trend we see ending anytime soon. What’s more, with firms concerned that regulators haven’t finished redefining the regulatory boundaries, it may be surprising that only 24% of respondent’s highlight effective lobbyists as being as valuable as the other options. However, in this respect, the industry works as a whole through associations, working groups, etc., so what may have a small impact on individual firms will, in practice, be a significant presence across the industry. 65% 65% 24% 2% 43% Effective Lobbyists ESG Specialists Data Scientists Other Behavioural Scientists