Schroders’ appointment to a Romanian mandate will attract the attention of asset managers searching for opportunities for growth, writes Yuri Bender.

Absolute return funds may be the key to success in the German investment industry, writes Yuri Bender.

Germany’s €540bn investment industry - servicing the needs of an 80m population - is already stifled by well-placed local groups including DWS, Cominvest, and the funds arm of Deka. Troubled markets, fixed income outflows of €30bn over 2 years and a raft of local and European regulations make it even tougher for foreign firms to prosper.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but the single, integrated structure is now being questioned by many banking and investment groups.

The single, integrated, banking structure - trail-blazed by leading US bank Citigroup after its purchase of Sandy Weill’s Travelers insurance business ten years ago - has taken something of a battering in recent months.

F&C may be up for sale, but the three-year growth plan and geographical expansion of chief executive Alain Grisay shows a new maturity has arrived at company headquarters.

In much of Europe and the US, the fortunes of the life insurance and asset management industries have long been tied together, and dismantling them, as life stalwart Friends Provident is finding, is no easy matter.