The market for retail investment products continues to evolve. The growth in mutual funds has been tempered by the movement to lower-cost, tax-advantaged ETFs. Investors with greater assets are drawn to managed accounts. Direct indexing promises to offer the lower-cost benefits of ETFs with the tax advantage of a managed portfolio within a custom index. The question remains: How do these new vehicles affect the asset management industry? Fractional shares, smaller accounts, and low management fees create operational complexity and margin compression. What does that mean for asset managers, and what might the landscape look like in 2025?

This panel will discuss:

• What the introduction of direct indexing does to the mutual fund, ETF, and separately-managed-accounts markets
• What operational challenges come with offering direct indexing
• What opportunities exist for asset managers, and what risks persist for disintermediation
• How economy-of-scale requirements could consolidate direct indexing assets only with the largest asset management firms