The UK fund flow puzzle

Will manager moves win out over buy list pressure?

In the UK asset management industry, power is being concentrated in increasingly few hands. Figures from Lipper analysed by J.P. Morgan Asset Management show 42% of UK fund AUM was held in just 3.8% of the available funds as of the end of last year. Reversing this trend will take some doing. The drivers of more concentrated fund flows – the rise of centralised investment propositions, and the scaling down of selectors’ buy lists – are well entrenched. As the old industry adage goes, “nobody ever got fired for holding Neil Woodford”. But what happens when Neil Woodford moves on? It i...