Current Trends in the European Asset Management Industry

The aim of Lot 1 of the project "Current Trends in the European Asset Management Industry" was to collect asset management (AM) related data and to analyse the current developments of the investment funds industry. A database with historical series on different important market indicators was designed to achieve a better understanding of the functioning of the AM market and to identify current trends which could affect the future development of the market for asset management. The data and the reports of Lot 1 are deemed to serve also as a basis for the analysis of Lot 2 of this project. Lot 2 has been conducted by Oxera Consulting Ltd. and focuses on trends that have an impact on the integration and risk features of the European AM market. There exist several data sources concerning the AM industry which are of major importance for the project and which have been supplied by data vendors, professional associations, and statistical agencies. However, most of them focus only on a particular segment of this industry or on a particular part of the value chain. The data providers also often use different definitions which make data comparisons and consolidation difficult. There are also some studies and surveys that have dealt with the industry’s main trends in recent years. Due to the dynamics of the AM industry and the focus of former research on particular trends, most of the surveys are already outdated or provide only an incomplete picture of the market. Furthermore, little or no data are available regarding the EU-10.

The principal added value of the database created by ZEW/OEE is bringing together various data sources covering different parts of the AM value chain, different market segments and countries. The ZEW/OEE database offers a comprehensive set of historical data for the EU-15 as well as for most of the EU-10 countries. In addition, ZEW and OEE conducted a survey amongst national regulatory and supervisory authorities, AM professional associations (members of The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA)), national insurance, bank and pension fund associations and the national central banks.

This report provides key results from the explorative data analysis on selected indicators based on figures from the ZEW/OEE database. The identified main industry trends and conclusions are derived from an analysis of the data series contained in our database. In addition, we also used statements from market insiders, which were obtained with the aid of our survey. The indicators in the database as well as in this report are clustered into five main groups: market description, competition, distribution, integration, and efficiency indicators. After presenting the main conclusions of data analysis in section 2 we briefly describe the methodology and data sources used for collection of AM related information and design of the database in section 3.

Schröder, Michael, Mariela Borell, Didier Davydoff and Gregoire Naacke (2006), Current Trends in the European Asset Management Industry, Final Report, Mannheim