A 30-minute listen.    

We welcomed the Investment Association’s head of market insight Miranda Seath to the Octo studios to talk with Gary Shepherd about the body’s latest Investment Management Survey, and evolving investor sentiment. 

Miranda, who is no stranger to Octo having joined the IA from NextWealth in May, discusses how the growth of platforms have had a huge impact on retail investment holding periods – just over three years now, down from six years in 2003.

She explains: “It’s allowed investors to be able to switch assets between funds without the massive hassle and operational challenges of having to deal with lots of different fund managers; there’s a lot more information now about investments; and for advisers it’s a really efficient way of deducting a charge from funds and allowing for more sophisticated reporting”.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Miranda also outlines why responsible investment and ESG is the perfect opportunity for active managers to showcase their talents through excelling in positive screening and impact investing.

She also talks about innovation and how the growth of mixed asset funds has “rebalanced investor expectations about what our industry does”.

She remarks: “Investors see us as asset allocators rather than just managers of funds; they are looking to us to help make those decisions on how to allocate assets within a fund structure”.

The full IA Investment Management Survey is available to download here.