Going deeper into efficiency
The latest edition of the Funds Europe Top 200 and Top 50 managers shows an industry in a state of legacy trends even as new ones emerge.
North American, mostly US, managers again dominate the global Top 200 rankings, differentiating themselves with an average AUM of €921bn against €264bn across the Europe region, including both EU and non-EU headquartered firms.
Besides this measurement of efficiency based on average global AUM per manager, this year’s research has additionally looked at numbers of investment professionals employed against both global and European AUM.
In the Top 50 rankings, of the firms that reported figures, the US firms averaged €1.78bn global AUM per employee involved in full-time money management. The average for European firms was €1.35bn. But this headline hides some significant findings.
For example, those firms bracketed as ‘Emerging’ in the new Top 50+ rankings – for firms that did not make the Top 50 but still delivered figures for their European AUM – were ahead on this measure at €1.81bn. Interestingly, among the ‘Emerging’ listed are Japanese managers. They may have relatively small amounts of European AUM but they are still significant players in terms of their overall global AUM.
Also noted is that US managers are even more efficient managing their European AUM than globally. Those US managers in the Top 50 reported average European AUM of €2.10bn per employee compared to €1.78bn on their global AUM.
The UK, France and Switzerland, in order, continue to dominate European AUM by country location of managers in the Top 50, although all lag the US on this basis.
Total assets have continued to grow across both the Top 200 and Top 50, reflecting the strong gains seen in markets over the past year, spurred by sectors such as technology. This saw the ‘Trillion Euro Club’ grow to 24 constituents. In Europe, this is led by France with three constituents, with Switzerland, the UK and Germany on one each.
This report offers a significant set of unique industry data. Enjoy it.
About the authors
Jonathan Boyd
Jonathan is editor of Funds Europe. He has over 25 years of investment B2B publishing and PR experience delivering content across digital, print and events platforms for the UK and European investment industry.
Luke Beacon
Luke is head of research at Funds Europe. A former teacher, he has an extensive background in research spanning 15 years, including 10 years in publishing, during which time he has worked for a number of titles in the financial industry.