We update our reading list with the latest releases. Authors in this space are not climbing over each other to publish, but they seemed to have more free time in 2020. Real estate asset management has become popular, but is not our focus here.
We repeat our comment, there are few books covering the industry as a whole - potentially surprising given the industry has consistently managed 27% of global wealth. There are more books and many more academic papers focusing on the portfolio management function of AM.
Here is our updated selection of books on the industry, listed in descending chronological order. We exclude books dedicated to portfolio management as this domain is too large and we are more interested in industry structure and industrial organization themes. We receive no fees or commissions for the entries here.
We prefer more recent texts because while the structure and function of the the industry changes slowly, the themes and interests move faster: factor investing, machine learning, and data governance worries are recent, while regulation was the most frequently discussed topic after the financial crisis.
Artificial Intelligence for Asset Management and Investment: A Strategic Perspective
Al Naqvi
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and Gildan Media
March 2021
Looks at how machine learning can transform a broad range of AM functions including sales, marketing, compliance, and supply chain; and discusses how an asset manager needs to organizationally address such transformations from the perspective of process, project management, data, model development, and ethics.
Asset Management: Tools and Issues
Frank J Fabozzi, Francesco A Fabozzi, Marcos López de Prado, and Stoyan V Stoyanov
World Scientific Finance Company
January 2021
Textbook introducing the asset management industry and covering a range of topics relevant for portfolio management from basic financial accounting to securitization technology and applications of machine learning.
Fundamentals of Institutional Asset Management
Frank Fabozzi and Francesco Fabozzi
World Scientific Finance Company
November 2020
Here's our one selection on portfolio management. The textbook focuses on the portfolio management function of an asset manager across types of risk, asset classes, investment vehicles, strategies, and use of financial derivatives.
Artificial Intelligence in Asset Management
Söhnke M. Bartram, Jürgen Branke, and Mehrshad Motahari
CFA Institute Research Foundation
August 2020
Excellent introduction to and overview of academic literature on AI studies in AM domain. Concise, erudite, pedagogic.
Free as eBook.
Machine Learning for Asset Management: New Developments and Financial Applications
Emmanuel Jurczenko (ed)
Wiley-ITSE
July 2020. 1st ed.
A series of chapters by academics reporting on employing machine learning algorithms to develop predictive pricing models and investment strategies. Topics covered include stock picking, forecasting beta using sentiment indicators, TCA using order imbalances using bayesian networks, and optimising asset allocation.
Machine Learning for Asset Managers
Marcos M. López de Prado
Cambridge University Press
April 2020
Provides a framework, recommendations, and tools and argues the case for applying machine learning to discovering financial and economic theories.
Professor López de Prado is global head of quantitative research and development at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, founder of True Positive Technologies, and a professor of practice at Cornell University's School of Engineering.
Investment Management Regulation: An Introduction to Principles and Practice
Joseph A. Franco, and Karl-Otto Hartmann
Carolina Academic Press
March 2019
A new comprehensive coverage of federal law governing the investment management industry. The first part is an extended description of the key non-legal aspects of the industry; the second is a traditional casebook looking at Investment Advisers Act and the Investment Company Act.
Joseph Franco is a Professor of Law at Suffolk University Law School. Karl-Otto Hartmann is a corporate and securities lawyer.
A Short & Easy Primer on the Asset Management Industry: The Bigger Picture – Learn How the Industry Works in Practice
William J. Fischer
August 2018
Introduction to the industry’s main topics and themes in a conversational style. Good for an introduction to the industry or to understand the bigger picture.
The Road to AUM: Driving Assets Under Management through Effective Marketing and Sales
Sandra Powers Murphy
January 2018
A tough talking sales & marketing practitioners manifesto and organational "fitness program" on how to get your AM winning AuM. It provides a roadmap for AuM growth based on observations and experience from those in the industry, covering topics such as prospects,competition,content,online marketing,communications, and resources.
Organizational Alpha: How to Add Value in Institutional Asset Management
Ben Carlson
January 2017
Carlson argues that many asset managers fail identify what it takes to earn alpha. It describes the concept of organizational alpha which is a business process to structure and setup an asset manager so it is positioned to generate above benchmark returns through steps such as documenting investment processes, improving due diligence and decision-making processes, and ensuring continuity of the investment program. Targeted at institutional investors, board members, trustees, consultants and beneficiaries.
Carlson is Director of Institutional Asset Management at Ritholtz Wealth Management.
The Economics of The Asset Management Industry: A Behavioural Economics Approach
Michel Verlaine
Éditions universitaires européennes
September 2016
Analyzes the industrial organization of the AM industry through microeconomic agency models. It argues that governance issues may be more important than the risks of a given investment strategy, and rationalizes the existence of the existing business models through microeconomic behavioral models: investors should put more emphasis on the analysis of incentives implicit in the different business models, rather than focus on fashionable trading strategies.
Verlaine is an associate professor at ICN Business School in Nancy, France.
Asset Management and Institutional Investors
Ignazio Basile (ed) and Pierpaolo Ferrari (ed)
Springer
2016
Book of academic chapters (16) to inform policy development for each institutional investor type. It focuses on portfolio management with sections on major asset classes and product types.
The Industrial Organization of the Global Asset Management Business
Ingo Walter
CFA Institute Research Foundation
November 2015
A rough overview of the global institutional asset management industry based on stylized facts. It includes discussion of the competitive structure, conduct, and performance of the asset management industry as well as an assessment of the impact of institutional asset management on global capital markets.
Free as eBook.
Walter is professor emeritus of finance at NYU Stern School of Business.
The Asset Management Industry
Owen Concannon
CFA Institute
April 2015
CFA Institute Guide for the AM industry. Describes the basic structure and main topics of the industry based on stylized facts. Data from 2014.
Asset Management Firms, Financial Stability & the FSOC
Leah T. McLain (ed)
Nova Science Publishers
April 2014
Overview of the AM industry from regulatory point of view, and analysis how asset manager activities can introduce vulnerabilities that pose, amplify, or transmit threats to financial stability. It describes the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), which was created as part of a comprehensive reform of banking and securities market regulators, and discusses several major policy issues related to the FSOC.
Global Asset Management. Strategies, Risks, Processes, And Technologies
Michael Pinedo (ed) and Ingo Walter (ed)
Palgrave Macmillan
2013
Book of academic chapters (32) with focus on the financial crisis, regulation, and AM, but also with chapters on operational costs, technology, designing investment products and data governances. Provides alternative opinions on specific industry developments for specialists interested in the dynamics of the industry.
Rethinking Asset Management: From Financial Stability to Investor Protection and Economic Growth
Mirzha De Manuel and Karel Lannoo
Centre for European Policy Studies-European Capital Markets Institute
2012
Regulatory policy assessment of the future of the investment management industry in Europe after the subprime crisis and the subsequent regulatory response.
Alistair Lamb
Lamb Quantitative Research
Zurich, Switzerland
26 September 2022
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