Friday, 4 May 2018

Future State Of The Investment Profession


Securities Industry Development Corporation (SIDC), the learning and development arm of Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), co-hosted an event with Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Society Malaysia on 26 April 2018.  The topic of the event was “Future State of the Investment Profession”.

According to a survey done by CFA Institute, 84% of investment leaders expect consolidation of the industry in the next 5-10 years; 70% of the participants in the survey expect investors will increase their allocation to passive investment vehicles; 52% of CFA charterholders expect substantial or moderate contraction of profit margin at asset management firms; while 57% of the participants in the survey expect institutional investors will reduce cost by insourcing more investment management activities.

The survey on investment leaders revealed that 73% of them expect environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors will become more influential; 70% expect financial centers in Asia will become more influential; but only 11% believe that the investment industry’s impact on society is very positive; 55% expect globalization will offer new opportunities for investment professionals; 49% expect new technology will offer new opportunities for investment professionals.

The following diagram shows the megatrends and potential future development of the investment industry.


Source: CFA Asia Pacific Research Exchange (ARX)

Fintech Disruption will have high impact on the future state of the investment industry.  Technology such as robo-advisor and Blockchain will becoming more dominant in the future.  The Parallel Worlds indicates that product preferences for personalization, social engagement, speed and simplicity is very important.  Lower interest rate and returns for the next 5-10 years is due to slower global growth and political instability.  Purposeful Capitalism is about diversity, culture and sustainability, which will overtake conventional Capitalism that focuses only on profit.

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