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Lance Jepsen

This page discusses the business of asset management. For the asset management industry metric, see Assets Under Management (AUM).

Asset management could be classified into various forms (including but not limited to):

• Financial Asset Management;
• Real Estate Asset/Property Asset Management;
• Intellectual Propert (IP) and Licensing Asset Management;
• Enterprise Asset Management;
• Infrastructure Asset Management; etc.

But, in general it refers to the business model of financial services firms that make money from investing and / or trading in shares, bonds, and other securities to cater to the investment objectives of their corporate clients or high net worth individuals. The company invests on behalf of its clients and often gives clients alternative investment options that are not available to the average investor. An example may be an investment in equities, private offerings, and international investments. These services are usually restricted to high net worth individuals, governments, or corporations.

When high net worth individuals also known as Accredited Investors (per SEC definition based on income and net worth), governments, or corporations can do all of their banking and investing at the same institution instead of having a bank and brokerage account with two different companies. These types of accounts came about with the passing of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1997, which replaced the Glass-Steagall Act. The Glass-Steagall Act was created during the Great Depression and did not allow financial institutions to offer both banking and security services, unlike merchant banks in countries such as Germany where leading financial institutions such as Deutsche Bank operate as universal banks.