London - Global asset managers could see revenues slump as much as 30 percent in just two years if pressure on fees and returns continues unabated, according to a report by Morgan Stanley and Oliver Wyman.If fees fall another 10 percent by 2019 and money continues to shift to low-fee products, the bank’s base case scenario, total revenue for the industry would drop by just 3 percent, analysts including Betsy Graseck and Oliver Wyman partner Christian Edelmann said in the report.
Even so, the risk from two possible bear case scenarios outweigh the potential upside.
“We think the downside risks are higher,” the authors wrote in the report.
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If monetary policy failed to boost the economy or if an initial period of asset growth gave way to a collapse in prices then revenues would be expected to fall by about 30 percent, they said.
The report underscores the challenges faced by active managers, who are trying to protect market share from the cheaper passive fund industry. Flows between actively-managed funds are still about 2.5times higher than the flows leaving for passive, making price and product offering the key for providers, Morgan Stanley said.
“Sustained fee pressure is a growing threat for asset managers,” the bank’s analysts wrote.