Institutional Asset Manager Fees

This is one of the best case study examples to help you prepare for your upcoming BCG interview. Jump into the prompt now! 

Prompt

BCG has been hired by an institutional asset manager client.  The client is very profitable and doing well. 

However, they know that they are leaving money on the table; they have a lower average percent fee on assets under management than their competition. Institutional asset managers’ revenues are based on fees from clients.  Clients are charged a fee, which is some percentage of assets under management.  

Institutional asset management companies are companies like Fidelity.  They can serve any sort of large, investing clients—pension funds, CalPers, TIA-CREF, hospitals, foundations, universities, etc.  They do have retail division that serve individuals with their 401Ks and mutual funds, but this case focuses on the institutional investor side of the business.

They’ve hired BCG to advise them on their management fee. Is there an opportunity to increase revenues?

Case Overview

In this BCG case, your client is a large institutional asset manager firm experiencing success but have recently become aware that it may not be charging enough for their services. You have been brought in to look at their fee structure and assess whether or not they can increase revenues by changing their fee. It’s your job to dig deep into profitability, get to know the client and their operations and give them a solid recommendation for moving forward.

While the Profitability Framework can be helpful in solving this case, we recommend not stopping there. You are allowed and encouraged to move outside of the basic frameworks and bring your own experience and business acumen to the structure. The most sought after candidates blend creativity with structure to find a solution specific to the case.

Overall, the case has a qualitative difficulty of 3 out of 4 and has 2 math diagrams making this one of the best case study examples to help you prepare for a BCG final round interview.

Interview Tips: BCG

BCG is looking for 2 things in candidates: crystal clear communication and the ability to build a logical structure.

As you prepare, make sure you can articulate your process and structure.

To get the most from this case, focus on several things:

• Finding one key area to improve next time
• Time yourself as you present (2min for structure, 5min for math, 2min for brainstorming, 2min for conclusion)
• Your overall communication and polish (you want to impress your interviewer in the final round!).

Remember, quality practice > quantity practice. For quality out-loud practice with an ex-MBB coach, book a session now.

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