Asset managers to cut front office teams

The consultant's annual survey of UK asset managers found the asset management industry will experience continued polarisation in 2009 - with bigger firms getting bigger and smaller firms reducing in number. And it predicted a reversal of the last three years' steady rise in headcount at investment management houses as redundancies begin to affect front office operations. Despite this, Hymans Robertson remains bullish on active management as an investment strategy - pointing out that despite dismal underperformance for many active managers, several delivered strong relative returns in 2...