Managers make their mark in a competitive market

Boutique managers need to keep their edge on performance as boutique launches continue unabated

Despite predictions that the brain drain to boutiques would slow, new groups keep appearing, often with heavyweight fund manager names behind them. By nature, boutique funds specialise in certain sectors or geographic locations. Few of them seem willing to run with new asset classes, however. Peter Walls, managing director at Unicorn Asset Management, says the experience of big financial players is a valuable lesson to boutique wannabes. He says: "The big problem with bank and insurance-owned fund managers is that they try to be all things to all men. It is a question of scale and size fo...