Aging population poses new opportunities for global investment managers

As part of its 2011-2012 research programme SimCorp StrategyLab [1] recently gathered three executive research groups at its Copenhagen Summit 2011. The groups are a combination of distinguished academics and high-level industry representatives. They convened to discuss future challenges and recommendations for the fund industry; the asset management industry; and the pension and insurance industries, respectively.

Among the interesting topics discussed, the summit agreed that the prospect of aging populations will play a significant role in the future of all sectors within the investment management industry.

“Demographic changes will pose both challenges and opportunities to all sectors within investment management. The pensions industry, for instance, will be required to provide very high returns as well as stabile cash flows while simultaneously being able to manage risk better; and the fund industry will be met with a growing demand for products suited for investing people’s retirement savings,” says Ingo Walter, Professor at Stern School of Business and director of SimCorp StrategyLab.

“In the next 10-20 years many parts of the investment management industry will have to be restructured in order to meet the demands posed by the growing retiring population. The companies best prepared to handle the challenges and in particular take advantage of the opportunities are likely to become the future winners,” continues professor Ingo Walter.

The viewpoints and recommendations for how the various challenges faced by the global investment management industry should be met will be elaborated on and published in three sector-specific white papers in September 2011.