You say investor, I say consumer

THE ALCHEMIST

The theme at the Luxembourg fund conference was hardly contentious: countries of the European Union are starting to feel the demographic pressures on their economies, and while the global financial recovery is not yet secure, they are being pushed to come up with new pension funding and savings solutions.

Product manufacturers and distributors are locked in intense debate about “solutions” but the industry stands accused of not engaging properly, and in some cases not at all, with its customers. A hard hitting report from Datamonitor says clients’ trust of product manufacturers (fund managers) and the investment system (fund distributors and investment advisers) has hit an all-time low. Trust has actually diminished since 2009, which was supposed to be the low point of the downturn. Why? Because potential customers see financial institutions and banks returning to profit, having used bail...