Asset management

Given the growing importance of market differentiation, asset managers need to clearly define and distinguish their brand and purpose. To do this, firms will need to distinctly articulate — internally and externally — the compelling story about their mission and values to customers and employees alike.

For asset managers, investment stewardship is an increasingly important differentiator — one not just confined to explicitly ESG assets. As firms seek its full potential, investment stewardship is likely to converge with the front office. By bringing together investment decisions with long-term value creation through active engagement, firms can expand the end-to-end process for portfolio management.

Customers look for products and services tailored to their specific goals and timelines. Investors might have different horizons, depending on the distance to their goals. Others may be driven by the desire to invest in businesses with sustainable practices. Traditional funds may work for some investors, while others could want personalized, separately managed accounts (SMAs) with customized investments.

Rapidly changing customer and employee expectations, amplified by the rapid pace of technology and regulatory change, demand a response to workforce, culture and organization impacts. The leading asset managers of the future will reinvent how they allocate tasks, structure job roles, augment workers’ creativity and expertise with technology, and develop the skills of their people for the digital age.

To manage a wider range of assets and deliver greater personalization, firms will need the right technical infrastructure and data architecture combined with advanced analytics capabilities. To create this, asset managers should modernize their digital core – laying the foundations for transformation and positioning themselves to capitalize on future innovations.