Although the asset management industry has come under increasing scrutiny since the financial crisis it still remains poorly understood and investment scandals continue to headline in the financial press. Whereas most literature on the industry focuses on the technical end - how managers invest and what tips others can glean - this book explores the way these businesses operate as businesses and how they make their money.

The book explains how the industry is organized, how firms generate revenues through various types of fund, fees and charges and what cost pressures they face. It investigates the nature of their client relationships, the role played by star investors and the requirement for firms to integrate non-financial considerations into their investment process. The inherent tensions and potential conflicts of interest within asset managers that seek to keep both clients and shareholders happy is also examined. The book concludes by considering how the industry is evolving, the role of regulation and where it is struggling to change.

Suitable for students of business and finance, those working in allied areas of the finance sector, and for anyone with a general interest in how financial institutions and markets operate, the book offers readers a balanced and incisive guide to the economics of an industry that globally controls more than $100 trillion of financial assets and a critical appraisal of the sector's future.

About the Author

Ed Moisson is a journalist at Ignites Europe, part of the Financial Times Group, and has worked in the fund management industry for over 20 years.

Reviews

The investment management industry is huge, enormously influential, wildly profitable but often little-understood outside its own confines, with most of the literature focused on the approach of its most famous money managers. Ed Moisson ably explains the other pillars of asset management, explores how the business actually works and dissects what its future might look like.

-- Robin Wigglesworth, Editor, FT Alphaville, and author of Trillions

A fascinating and extremely well researched insight into the business of asset management and how the industry makes - and sometimes loses - money. A must-read for anyone looking to delve deeper into an influential sector of the economy managing trillions of dollars.

-- David Ricketts, author of When the Fund Stops

There are a lot of people in and around asset management who can paint little bits of this picture, but Ed Moisson is the only one with the skills and experience to show us the full landscape. A masterpiece.

-- Magnus Spence, Director, FidesIQ

This useful book walks the reader through the business of asset management - a business critical to the modern economy. Ed Moisson covers thorny topics such as conflicts of interest, scandals and regulatory intervention taking a balanced view. An important contribution to a better understanding of asset management.

-- Heather Hopkins, Managing Director, NextWealth

Having started in investment management 50 years ago when the fund business was a cottage industry (with less than GBP1 billion under management), I found this book an excellent analysis of the vast industry it has become. It will enable any reader to understand the complex dynamics of today's business.

-- Mark St Giles, co-author of Managing Collective Investment Funds, and Chairman, Cadogan Financial

A timely and important piece of work. Too few people understand investment management as a business and until there is a broader understanding of some of the conflicts and challenges that exist, the sector will remain in the shadows of banking and insurance. Opacity rarely goes hand in hand with excellence nor does it allow investment management to earn proper credit for the vital role that it plays in financing growth and wellbeing.

-- Will Goodhart, Chief Executive, CFA Society of the UK



Book Information
ISBN 9781788215343
Author Ed Moisson
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Agenda Publishing
Publisher Agenda Publishing