The State Street Research report titled Frontline Revolution: The New Battleground for Asset Mangers found more than three quarters, or 77 per cent, of the Australian asset managers see “increased opportunity to make acquisitions in the next 12 months”.
This was above the 57 per cent figure for US-based managers.
The report is based on a global survey conducted by FT Remark involving 300 senior executives at asset management firms equally distributed across Asia Pacific, North America and Europe managing at least US$5 billion in assets.
The survey also discovered 28 per cent of all asset managers globally see “significant acquisition opportunities in the next 12 months”.
State Street said acquisitions can lead to an improvement in operational efficiency and distribution strategy, which is necessary for those asset managers looking to move towards providing multi-asset solutions.
The report found that 80 per cent of all Australian asset managers consider multi-asset solutions to be the strategy that will help them meet client objectives and drive most growth over the next three years.
While this figure was the highest among Australian asset mangers, the survey also revealed this was a global trend, with 67 per cent of all global respondents stating multi-asset solutions is the investment strategy that will “contribute most to [their] business growth over the next three years”.
Despite these figures, 73 per cent of Australian managers believe few managers are equipped to offer them successfully.
The report said a shift to multi-asset investment solutions “requires a major transformation of many aspects of an asset manager’s operating model”.
However, the survey found asset managers are planning to undertake this transformation, with more than two thirds of Australia-based asset managers expecting to make significant or moderate investment in skills training and 63 per cent planning to acquire new talent to address capability gaps.
