Asset and wealth management: players, trends, regulation, and how to crack the cases
Examples of managers, private banks, and sovereign funds by region, trends from 2024 to 2026, regulation basics, and typical case prompts.
Industry brief, with a one-minute summary: Asset and wealth managementFirm processes and online tests change from year to year and differ by office. Use this to prepare, and confirm the exact current steps on the firm's own careers page.
Key takeaways
- Scale wins in passive products, skill and brand win in active and private markets, and trust wins in wealth management.
- Common traps: Treating AUM as the firm's own money (it belongs to clients).
- Markets did most of the work.
- Fees stay near record lows.
Key idea
Scale wins in passive products, skill and brand win in active and private markets, and trust wins in wealth management. Place the client company in one of these games before you recommend anything.
| Region | Asset managers | Wealth managers and private banks | Sovereign wealth funds |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | BlackRock, Vanguard, Fidelity, State Street | Morgan Stanley, Merrill (Bank of America), JPMorgan | Not a major SWF market; large public pension funds instead |
| Europe and UK | Amundi (France), Allianz Global Investors, DWS (Germany), Schroders, Legal & General (UK) | UBS, Julius Baer (Switzerland) | Norway's Government Pension Fund Global, managed by NBIM |
| Gulf | Growing local managers and global firms' regional offices | Private banks in Dubai (DIFC) and Abu Dhabi (ADGM) | ADIA, Mubadala, ADQ (Abu Dhabi); PIF (Saudi Arabia); QIA (Qatar); Kuwait Investment Authority |
| India | SBI Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential, HDFC Mutual Fund | Wealth arms of banks and firms such as 360 ONE | National Investment and Infrastructure Fund |
| Singapore and Asia | Asian units of global managers; Nikko and Nomura (Japan) | DBS, UBS, and Julius Baer in Singapore; Hong Kong booking centres | GIC and Temasek (Singapore); CIC (China) |
So-what
Several of the largest SWFs, including ADIA and GIC, do not publish their size, so rankings of them are estimates.
Trends from 2024 to 2026 (checked 28 September 2026)
- Markets did most of the work. BCG reports that global AUM reached about USD 147 trillion in 2025, up 11 percent, but more than 80 percent of revenue growth came from rising markets, not new client money (BCG Global Asset Management Report 2026).
- Scale keeps growing. BlackRock reported USD 15.3 trillion of AUM at 30 June 2026 in its second quarter results, and BCG finds that the ten largest providers have taken more than 90 percent of net inflows into US index funds and ETFs since 2015.
- Fees stay near record lows. The Investment Company Institute reports asset-weighted expense ratios in 2025 of 0.40 percent for US equity mutual funds and 0.05 percent for index equity mutual funds, and notes that actively managed stock funds saw net outflows in 2025 while inflows went mostly to low-cost index funds.
- AI and cost. BCG estimates that asset managers could cut costs by 25 to 35 percent over three to five years with AI, if they redesign how they work. Treat this as an estimate, not a result.
- Sovereign funds are large investors. Global SWF's ranking estimates several funds at around or above USD 1 trillion each, for example Norway's fund at about USD 2.3 trillion, ADIA at about USD 1.1 trillion and PIF at about USD 0.9 trillion; these are estimates, because some funds do not publish their size. Norway's fund, which publishes its value live, is worth more than NOK 20 trillion (NBIM). Oil price swings in 2026 affect the new money some Gulf funds receive.
Fund managers need a licence from the market regulator (for example the SEC in the US, SEBI in India, the FCA in the UK, MAS in Singapore, and the DFSA in Dubai's DIFC). Funds sold to the public follow rules on what they may invest in, on disclosure of fees and risks, and on keeping client assets with an independent custodian. Advisers must recommend products that suit the client. Rules on how advisers are paid differ by country; some ban commissions from fund providers on advice. SWFs follow their own government mandates, and many have signed the voluntary Santiago Principles on governance.
| Case prompt | Structure hint | First driver to check |
|---|---|---|
| Our asset manager's profit margin is shrinking | Revenue (AUM x fee rate by product) and costs; AUM bridge | Change in average fee rate from mix shift and price cuts |
| Should we launch a range of ETFs? | Demand, distribution access, scale needed to break even, cannibalization of active funds | AUM needed to cover fixed costs at the planned fee |
| Should a global private bank grow in India or the Gulf? | Wealthy client pool, competition, RM hiring, regulation, booking centre | Number of target clients and the RMs needed to serve them |
| Should a sovereign fund manage more money in-house? | Fees saved versus cost and difficulty of building teams; performance and governance | External fees paid today on the asset classes that could move in-house |
| Should we buy a specialist manager? | Strategic fit, AUM stickiness, key people, price, synergies | Whether clients and key portfolio managers will stay after the deal |
So-what
Most cases in this industry are revenue cases in disguise: AUM, fee rate, and mix.
Treating AUM as the firm's own money (it belongs to clients). Counting market gains as success. Forgetting mix when fees change. Assuming a sovereign fund behaves like a private investor (it has a public mandate). Ignoring key person risk: in active management and private banking, clients often follow the person, not the firm.
A sovereign wealth fund holds USD 900 billion. It earns a nominal return of 6 percent a year, and the government withdraws 3 percent of the fund each year for the budget. By how much does the fund grow next year, in USD billions? (Ignore new money from oil income.)
Related modules: "Mergers, acquisitions, and due diligence" helps with asset manager deals; "Revenue growth and growth strategy" fits new products and regions; "Pricing" fits fee cases. See also the private equity and venture capital module for private markets fees, and the banking module for private banks inside banking groups.
What is the main reason average fees in asset management keep falling?
Which describes a sovereign wealth fund?
Why do private banks watch AUM per relationship manager so closely?
Sources for this lesson (7)
- BCG: Global Asset Management Report 2026, An Imperative for Growth (April 2026)
- BlackRock: second quarter 2026 earnings release (official, July 2026)
- Investment Company Institute: Trends in the Expenses and Fees of Funds, 2025 (official)
- Julius Baer: 2025 full year results, gross margin on client assets (official, February 2026)
- Global SWF: ranking of sovereign wealth funds and public pension funds (estimates)
- Norges Bank Investment Management: the fund (official, live market value)
- Recognized public explanations of case-interview concepts and frameworks
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