Britain’s fund-management industry is massive, says Buttonwood in The Economist: 1,800 firms manage £6.9trn of assets. The top ten only make up 47% of the market,so competition should be lively. Yet the industry resembles a cosy oligopoly. The Financial Conduct Authority says fees in the actively managed sector have barely moved in the past decade.
Extremely high operating margins of 34%-39% are common. The notion that asset management is “too difficult to understand is something that the industry has exploited”, Gina Miller of SCM Private told the FT.