With banks retrenching their lending business under pressure from new capital rules and regulatory pressures, asset managers have an opportunity to play a major role in reform of the continent’s pension systems as well as the funding of small business and major infrastructure products, and the management of assets for the world’s fast-growing sovereign wealth funds, according to PwC experts and other leading industry members, including BBVA global asset management CEO Paloma Piqueras.

“With such a role, however, comes responsibility. The ability for our industry to become a trusted part of the solution by governments, regulators and, of course, investors will be critical. The asset management industry has the opportunity not just to manage assets but to build solutions for many parts of the global economy,” says conference chairman John Parkhouse, EMEA Asset Management Leader at PwC.

John Parkhouse adds that forecasts of the industry’s size by 2020 were conservatively estimated at $102.7 tn. However, current trends are exceeding our predictions towards our upper limit for growth of $130 tn. We should be cautious, however, that short-term trends are not necessarily indicative of where we may end up.

IOSCO secretary-general David Wright sees a positive forward agenda in Asset Management regulation, with Asset Management playing a growing part in fostering the financing of the real economy. The asset management sector, however, is coming under intense regulatory spotlight in the context of the non-bank non-insurance SIFI debate at global level. He also expressed the hope that the bad behaviour found in some parts of the financial industry will not happen in the Asset Management sector. Otherwise, the authorities will be quick to heavily sanction. Moving to the positive “capital market for growth” agenda will be dependent on globally improved standards of industry behaviour to rebuild trust.

PwC sees particularly rapid growth in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region over the coming five years, an opportunity to expand the reach of UCITS funds, although the development of regional cross-border passporting schemes in Asia and their likely emergence in Latin America in the future will make local fund domiciles increasingly attractive.