While equity market volatility was relatively subdued during the third quarter, 2018 as a whole has seen much higher volatility than last year. This volatility may be an opportunity for active asset managers, although the industry continues to face fee pressures and increasing costs. Scale is increasingly important for asset managers as assets flow into lower fee products due to secular trends in the industry and de-risking during recent periods of heightened volatility.
As we do every quarter, we take a look at some of the earnings commentary of pacesetters in asset management to gain further insight into the challenges and opportunities developing in the industry.