Unlike other industries, the asset management industry reacts rapidly to change. The advantage of making money from volatile financial markets is that you become used to your fortunes shifting over a matter of days. That makes the industry adept at tightening its...
After two decades of change in the UK institutional investment market, asset managers continue to see the market place shift. As our last blog explained, great opportunities exist for those managers who can match this evolving client need. But many asset managers are...
The era of the transaction is dead! Long live the age of collaboration! That might seem a strange sentiment to express in a President Trump world where the transactional mindset is revered but UK asset owners favour deeper relationships. A combination of evolution and...
Last year a new concept took hold in the UK’s closed private sector defined benefit schemes – rather than transferring all the assets to an insurance company, why not run-on these schemes instead? There are clear incentives for the industry to maintain pension schemes...
After a tough decade and a once-in-a-generation change in bond yields, asset managers have struggled to keep up with the pace of change. But rather than giving the industry a moment to adjust, the Labour government has added to the pressure. Growth push Facing a tough...
While UK defined benefit pensions have experienced rapid change in recent years, in the world of defined contribution political ambitions have created a confusing agenda. The political plan for DC has been driven by an emerging cross-party consensus to encourage...
The rapid improvement in defined benefit pension scheme funding levels over the space of last year is extraordinary. According the Purple Book, surpluses in 2023 were £367bn, an increase of more than £110bn from 2022. With buy-out transfers expected to be around £50bn...
In recent years, institutional investors had to adopt the philosophy of the White Queen in Alice in Wonderland and believe six impossible things before breakfast. If someone had predicted in 2020 that the post global-financial crisis interest-rate cuts would have been...
In 2022 the headwinds facing asset managers reliant on the UK’s £3trn occupational pension schemes became even more extreme. The war in Ukraine and Liz Truss’ actions last September brought about a once in a generation change to financial markets. (I've used a photo...
It has been a Darwinian decade for asset managers with some parts of the industry eating the lunch of others. Companies have forced to become nimble and adapt to the rise of low-cost passive investment. The ability to design products which track indices at cheap...