The intensification of competition is a force for the increasing integration of specialized intermediaries within group structures. The reasons for integration are often to be found precisely in the field of asset management, where the overlapping between banking, insurance and securities business is most pronounced.
For instance, what is considered as a ‘neutral rate’ of interest, in the present period, appears to be much lower compared to several years before. The issue of significance here is whether the neutral rate in respect of the emerging market economies, which has been coming down in tandem with global rates, will tend to be distinctly higher than in the developed economies.