Distribution is where asset managers win or lose now. The buyer has changed. Fewer individual advisers are picking funds, and more of the decisions sit with DFMs, MPS teams, fund selectors and platforms who see every manager in the market and ask much harder questions.
A lot of sales teams haven't caught up. A distribution director at an active manager said it to me plainly: "I think my BD team is still pitching on product and price."
There's a newer job too. More managers are building funds that sit behind someone else's brand, like the funds behind a comparison site's investment platform or a bank's app. Somebody has to own that relationship, keep it healthy and go and win the next one. That person is rarely already in the team, because the role didn't exist a few years ago.
The roles I place at asset managers
- Wholesale and intermediary sales directors
- Key account and fund selector coverage
- Heads of UK Distribution
- Partnership and co-manufacturing leads
- Commercial and strategic project roles
Who I've worked with
I've worked with Vanguard for 10+ years and work closely with their digital and co-manufacturing team.
How I work
Exclusive or retained, one brief at a time. That means a proper look across the whole market rather than the first ten CVs on a database, and a shortlist of people I've actually spoken to. Usually four, not forty.
If your distribution team needs to sell a different way, or you're hiring for a role that didn't exist two years ago, I'd like to hear about it.