Speaking to InvestorDaily, Mr Gordon said Perpetual Investments is following the Financial System Inquiry closely – including chairman David Murray's suggestion that the major banks may be forced to sell their wealth divisions.
"Could it happen? I always like to look at the black and white, both sides of something," Mr Gordon said.
"We might say that banks might divest or sell their wealth management businesses. And I say to you: to who?"
There is no company in Australia, outside of the major banks, that has the necessary capital to make such a purchase, Mr Gordon said.
Foreign banks don't want to buy Australian wealth management firms because "they're trying to sell their own businesses back home", he added.
"Most of my working life, the answer to that question [who will buy a wealth management division] has been ‘the banks’," Mr Gordon said.
"When we get into a world where they’re sellers – and you see this globally – most large diversified banks would like to sell their asset management businesses. But they can’t."
Wealth management businesses only have value when they are tied to "the mother ship" (ie, the bank network), Mr Gordon said.
"If you sell it with guaranteed distribution for life, it’s a different story – but that’s not [what's being discussed]," he said.
