Supermodel – The full report

Insights from 200 global leaders on succeeding in today’s rapidly transforming industry. The asset management industry has been going through a super silent evolution. In recent years, product innovation has transformed the industry and how it operates. This has brought benefits and growth – but also costs and complexity.

This is the subject of our four-part research series, Supermodel: The great evolution in asset management

Based on interviews with 200 industry leaders, our research takes a strategic look at cause and effect in investment operations and identifies paths to future success. Amid our research, four key themes to reach that success became clear. 

Part one: Under Pressure: Margin pressures intensify for fund managers  

Our first area of focus is margin pressure. The pressure faced by almost every asset manager is changing and intensifying. The research findings reveal a clear contrast: while costs are rising, fees are decreasing. 

These factors, combined with increased client demand for customisation, pose an operational headache for asset managers, with nearly two thirds (63%) of firms in our survey saying that a typical fund launch now takes 10 months or longer.  

Part two: Operational Overhaul: How growth strategies are changing the demands on operations  

Our second area of focus explores the demands growth strategies are placing on operating models. As asset managers seek growth from new asset classes, new products and client segments, they simultaneously create problems that hamper their operations. 

Part three: Breaking Point: Growing pains of operating models 

Our third area of focus looks to the external factors at play which are driving up operational complexity. Based on the expert views of 200 asset management executives, we analysed the operating models of the firms in our survey across the dimensions of efficiency, scalability and rising complexity, creating an operational transformation radar. 

Part four: Future Proofing: The next generation operating models 

Our fourth area of focus looks onwards to the next stage – future-proofing. During this time of transformation, how can asset managers best future-proof their stretched operating models? 

The senior asset management executives we spoke with advised they must address margin challenges by modernising technology infrastructure: deeper automation, advanced tools like machine learning, and centralised data management. But what if they’ve already taken simple steps? Can outsourcing play a role in both solving problems and enabling growth? 

Here we take a deep dive into the four prevailing recommendations of the report, to best future-proof operating models amidst the evolution of the industry. These recommendations stand testament to the rising numbers looking to outsource, either in whole or in part via a managed services model.  

Success requires change. The supermodel era is here.

Download the full report here .

For a bespoke discussion regarding how the recommendations of the report best apply to challenges you are facing and to speak through the findings in more detail please contact us to arrange a meeting. contact@carnegroup.com