After a bumpy start this year, markets hit their stride, helping boost global assets under management (AUM) to a record $147 trillion by June 2025. But although revenue pools increased by double-digit percentages from 2023 to 2024, pretax operating profit margins rose by only one percentage point, Senior Partner Ju-Hon Kwek and colleagues note. A few trends could reshape the industry, including a recalibration toward local investing and a convergence of alternative and traditional asset management.
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A series of 3 area charts depicts pretax operating profit margin, revenue pools, and cost from 2019 to 2024. The left section of the chart shows pretax operating profit margin as a percentage of net revenue, with a steady increase from 35% in 2019 to 39% in 2021, followed by a decline to 32% in 2023, and then a slight increase to 33% in 2024. The middle section shows revenue pools in billions of dollars, with a steady increase from $200 billion in 2019 to $256 billion in 2021, followed by a decline to $228 billion in 2022 and 2023, and then an increase to $250 billion in 2024. The right section shows cost in billions of dollars, with a steady increase from $131 billion in 2019 to $155 billion in 2021, followed by a slight decrease to $151 billion in 2022, and then an increase to $167 billion in 2024.
Note: This image description was completed with the assistance of Writer, a gen AI tool.
Source: Public filings; McKinsey Performance Lense Global Asset Management Survey.
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To read the report, see “Asset management 2025: The great convergence,” September 18, 2025.