FRANCE - The president of the European Asset Management Association (EAMA) says it is not just consultants who can advise clients.

"We have to get closer to our clients," said Klaus Moessle. "We have to insist that consultants are not the only ones to advise clients."

The comments are the latest in what KPMG recently termed "tension" between asset managers and investment consultants.

"We should not allow ourselves to be reduced to performance machines," Moessle said. Moessle is a board member of Deutsche Asset Management and also sits on the board of Deutscher Pensionsfonds, Deutsche's joint venture with Zurich.

Moessle called on asset managers to be "ambitious enough" to take a more active role. "We have to be more involved and less complacent," he told delegates at the EAMA conference.

He said a "team atmosphere" between all parties was key. "I'd be the last person to say consultants don't have a role to play."

"I don't think there is a real conflict between investment managers and consultants," he added.

Delegates to the conference observed a few moments silence in memory of EAMA secretary-general Michael Haag, who died on September 21.





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