Another asset management acquisition, and another time-honoured name looks set to disappear. The announced purchase of Putnam by Franklin Templeton at the start of June throws up the questions (again, and inevitably): how much is the asset management industry being dominated by large players, and what are the effects? LSEG Lipper analysis of the UK asset management industry shows that between 2003 and 2023, the top 10 asset managers’ market share by total net assets (TNA) have gone from 49.3% of TNA to 52.6% (see table).[1] Top-heavier So not much to get excited about, you might think. However, within those

On March 19, 2023, UBS agreed to buy troubled rival Swiss bank Credit Suisse in a merger which was engineered by Swiss authorities to safeguard the financial markets and to calm down the turmoil in the global banking sector. Assuming that a merger of the two largest Swiss banks will lead to a merger of their fund and ETF management branches raises the question about the impact such a merger would have on the fund management landscape. Therefore, is a topic of interest to see how the merger of the fund and ETF arms of the two banks will impact

The coronavirus pandemic hit the European fund industry with declining markets and estimated net outflows of €125.9 bn in the first quarter of 2020. This trend reversed over the course of the second quarter as central banks and governments around the globe started quantitative easing programs and economic relief packages to cushion the economic drawdowns caused by the spread of the coronavirus and the lockdowns of economies around the globe. The measures taken led to a rebound of the equity markets accompanied by falling interest rates. The return to somewhat normal market circumstances led investors to buy back into mutual

The whole world switched into crisis mode due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus across the globe, sparking a pandemic which closed many businesses and led to lockdowns in some countries. For the asset management industry, this means that most of the employees are now working in a virtual office environment, also known as a home office. From my perspective, the experiences from these circumstances will lead to an even faster adoption of digital solutions within the asset management industry—a situation that was expected eventually. Generally, it is clear that the asset management industry is, at the moment, somewhat

The year 2017 was a record year for the European fund industry, with inflows into mutual funds reaching a new all-time high, in conjunction with a generally positive market environment driving the assets under management to a new all-time high. Chart 1: Assets Under Management in the European Fund Management Industry Source: Lipper With this tailwind the European fund industry should be in a good position to maintain its growth in 2018, if the general environment for the securities markets stays positive. That said, the year 2018 started with a bumpy ride for a number of European asset managers that