Europe’s asset managers are not only struggling to attract new funds from investors but have also lost market share to other forms of saving, such as bank deposits, since the onset of the financial crisis, according to the recent McKinsey & Company report Will the goose keep laying golden eggs? Is the turbulence behind us? Moreover, while on average the European industry’s profitability picked up in 2010, it was still well below the levels achieved three years earlier.

Confirmation of the difficulties comes amid renewed stock market turbulence, emphasizing the scale of the uphill battle asset managers face to rebuild their businesses. Assets under the global industry’s management stood at €35 trillion by the end of 2010, roughly back to the level of 2007 (at constant exchange rates), thanks to the rebounding performance of stock markets after the 2008 downturn. Overall net new inflows were negligible in 2010, though the regional picture was mixed: emerging markets, such as Africa, Asia (except for Japan), and Latin America, were buoyant; developed markets, such as Western Europe and the United States, mostly flat.