European fund buyers have rediscovered their appetite for active strategies, according to a survey of fund buyers carried out in June.
The survey, commissioned by New York-based active investment house PineBridge Investments, found that 60% of respondents expect to allocate a larger proportion of their assets to active managers over the next five years as market volatility and macroeconomic risks rise.
Conducted at the FundForum trade conference in Berlin in June, the survey also found that 50% of fund buyers see regulation and digitalisation as the two biggest short-term challenges for the industry.
Respondents said that artificial intelligence followed by automation will be the two biggest technology opportunities for the fund industry over the next five years.
Ninety-one per cent of respondents said that environmental, social and governance investing will become more important over the five next years.
Anik Sen, PineBridge’s global head of equities said: “There is a growing recognition that the market is becoming driven much more by security selection.
“Yet investors are also becoming more selective with the managers they choose, conducting thorough due diligence and focusing on managers who have proven themselves through market cycles.”
The number of respondents to the survey was not disclosed, but PineBridge said that over a third of fund buyers at FundForum had taken part.
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