Asset management firms invest in everything from the stock market to housing, and as a result they now oversee over 26% of global private wealth. The 'Big Three' firms now manage over $23 trillion in assets - a number close to the GDP of the US. But, argues A.G. (writing under a pseudonym while she investigates the firms), these companies' size and influence encourages anti-competitive behaviour and prioritises short-term profits over broader economic health. This has led to wage stagnation and increased wealth concentration among the rich. We need alternative approaches. A democratically controlled public asset management firm could help us to achieve more equitable and sustainable prosperity.

Our lives have become increasingly intertwined with global financial markets. If you have a retirement plan or a personal investment account, chances are your savings are being managed by asset management companies. By managing investments on our behalf, asset management firms not only command the flow of global capital, but they also exert control over the companies where we work, own the houses and apartments where we live, administer infrastructure services on which we all rely, and influence our countries’ monetary and climate change policies. Despite promising to make investing more accessible, this new financial regime has failed to bring about a more equitable and democratic ownership of capital, with an ever smaller group owning increasingly more of our societies. As asset management firms continue to prioritise short-term capital growth above all else, we are left to deal with the fallout from their investment behaviour, including stagnating wages, a cost of living crisis, crumbling infrastructure, and a burning planet.

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The asset management industry oversees $119 trillion worth of assets globally, accounting for 26% of global private wealth.

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