AIMSE is reaching out to the world.
The Washington-based Association of Investment Management Sales Executives is planning to expand its international activities to encompass marketers at money management firms worldwide, explained Norbert Kraich, executive director.
For the past eight years, the association has held annual meetings of its international arm in London, but has not adequately serviced Asia, continental Europe or Australia. This year, it has added a series of London-based luncheon meetings and roundtables.
International membership has blossomed to about 150, nearly triple the level of two years ago. But that's still a far cry from AIMSE's 1,300 U.S. members. About three-quarters of the non-North American members are based in the United Kingdom.
With the help of Katherine Adams, AIMSE's international director, the organization hopes to greatly expand its numbers and programs. Next year, the organization probably will move its annual conference to Paris, trying to draw in more continental money management firms.
The difficulty is that the market is far more fragmented outside of the United States. While the U.S. pension market normally is divided by size of pension fund and by corporate and public funds, there are far more varieties of managers appealing to European pension funds, Ms. Adams explained, including fund of fund managers, hedge funds, private equity and divisions by country.
"Then it's difficult to be all things to all people," she said.
