Barbara Herman Quoted
By Andrew Barber
Asset management is no exception to the rule that competition in a mature industry puts prices under pressure. Worldwide, average asset-weighted fees shrank from 46 basis points in 2006 to 39 in 2012, according to Casey, Quirk & Associates, an investment management consulting firm based in Darien, Connecticut. The mass-market end of the business is seeing a spate of new low-cost alternative offerings, including so-called robo-advisers that charge very little. Early in 2015, U.S. investment titan Charles Schwab Corp. plans to take this race to the next level by launching an online advisory service with no fees beyond underlying fund costs.