Asset management fee revenues are decreasing due to investor pressure and the rise of low-fee passive investments. This is good news for investors whose capital pays all fees.

It reflects a general hollowing out of the active fund management industry - particularly large active funds charging higher fees in the unlikely outcome of persistent excess returns.

With more competition and the broad availability of information, excess returns are becoming increasingly difficult to deliver. Large active funds do not have the focus, incentives, or agility to deliver excess returns; they are dinosaurs.

Finding and exploiting market inefficiencies is valuable for global growth but needs to be done by specialists. These are smaller, focused, nimble trading groups with incentives centred around performance.

This creates a massive opportunity for asset management to restructure and dramatically reduce costs, creating more value for its clients. This will not be led by the large incumbents who have too much to lose.

It is time for change.