INTERSEC 250Globalization is high on the agenda at international summits, in the boardroom, and at the sharp end where companies and individuals feel the pain. In investment management it has meant another furious round of mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations as companies continue to equate size and diversification with survival in competing for fickle and increasingly mobile international capital. At first sight there appears to have been a remarkable amount of movement at the top of the table, but closer inspection reveals that the main reason is the reduction in the figures for assets managed of the largest Japanese institutions. Kampo remains unchallenged for the number one spot but the trust banks' 1995 figures are some 25% to 40% lower than last year (Euromoney, August 1995, page 71). Comparability between Japan and the rest of the world is always a problem discounting the movement of the Japanese institutions immediately shifts the focus to the sector's biggest mergers and acquisitions of the year. Two of the largest transactions affecting the ranking were purchases of US institutions: BZW's (ranked 3) purchase of Wells Fargo Nikko Investment Advisers and Zurich Insurance's (20) of Kemper. |