Fund supermarkets: threat or opportunity?

With fund supermarkets set to account for 25% of European mutual fund sales within five years, Charlie Upton asks whether the meteoric rise of the fund supermarket could sound the death knell for financial intermediaries

Investment Week 28 May 2001Recent findings and predictions by Cerulli Associates that fund supermarkets will account for 25% of net new inflow into the European fund market by 2005 should not come as a surprise. In the US, fund supermarkets have been up and running for several years and already have approximately 16% of market share. However, the question causing fear and consternation in broker circles is whether this growth will come at the expense of the traditional intermediary sector? An often-touted argument is that growth in sales through fund supermarkets will destroy current c...