Seven top trends in investment management & what they mean for communicators

In New York, just now, I heard from Greenwich Associate's MD Rodger Smith at the annual PAICR conference.

While his presentation was understandably US-focused, a lot of what he had to say is relevant to the Australian and global market. 

These trends he kicked off with will sound familiar to many of us - whether we're working as an asset manager, asset consultant, or marketing or communication person in the United States, Australia, Asia or UK / Europe. Or perhaps living in time-zone hell, and working across all of those as clients and friends are.

Background to the Greenwich work is this: 

• More than 1000 funds participated
• Research was conducted in 2011 between July and September
• Participants included corporate funds, union funds, public funds, endowment/foundations
• All funds had more than US$250 million in funds under management

So what are those seven key change dynamics, or trends, that Greenwich Associates spotted in this global study of institutional (or significant family office) funds?

1. Globalisation
2. Defined benefit to defined contribution shift (accelerated by the financial crisis)
3. Channel management
4. Product demand
5. Fiduciary management - and Chief Investment Officer outsourcing
6. Convergence of institutional and intermediary markets
7. Strategic/trusted relationships

These changes in asset management or institutional investing is having it's effect on marketing and communication. And the rest of the business!

Just some of the effects for communication and marketing people are these:

1. Global communication capability is needed: learn how to do it, and well
2. Fund managers are outsourcing more communication and marketing to partners as managers are squeezed by institutional clients
3. Differentiated value propositions for asset managers are more important than ever
4. As technology enables better client segmentation, even in B2B communication, managers are using those capabilities to be much more tailored, experimental and effective in communication
5. Convergence of markets means, conversely, that messages are more likely to need to work across both institutional and intermediary channels 

I am attending the 2012 PAICR conference #paicr2012 for BlueChip Communication on the 10th & 11th of September in New York.