Asset management is the ongoing process of developing and maintaining a portfolio of investments on behalf of a company or an individual. Financial institutions possess unique expertise in financial markets, portfolio construction, and risk analysis, which they put to work for clients seeking to optimize the performance of their assets over time while minimizing potential downside risks.
With an expanding universe of financial products to choose from, as well as increased uncertainty in markets due to the COVID-19 pandemic, savvy asset management is more important than ever. And, while the field of asset management isn’t new, it has evolved just as quickly as the opportunities and risks of the market.
The age of big data and powerful computing has opened the door to financial engineering approaches to asset management, with sophisticated quantitative analysis techniques used to mathematically optimize portfolios to an unprecedented degree. At the other end of the spectrum, insights from behavioral finance are helping asset managers anticipate the way built-in cognitive biases can influence investment strategies for individuals and across markets.