Asset managers must 'capture scale opportunities to remain successful' warns consultancy

Research by Accenture

Asset managers must "industrialise their businesses" and capture "latent scale opportunities" in order to remain successful in a rapidly changing capital markets industry, according to a report by consultancy firm Accenture.

The study, Capital Markets Vision 2022, found wealth and asset managers generate 90% of overall economic profits in the capital markets industry (after tax and cost of equity), making them far more profitable than investment banks. However, it also found they are failing to achieve scale efficiencies and must prepare for down-market scenarios and shrinking margins. The report said: "Asset and wealth management are two of the most profitable subsegments of the industry. They even seem to defy economic logic. "While structurally these segments should be a scale game, in practice they...