For asset managers, the single most important variable in 2015 was emerging market exposure. Out of the sector's nine constituents, just two - Ashmore (ASHM) and Aberdeen (ADN) - ended the year with a lower share price than they started with. This should come as little surprise: both are weighted towards emerging markets, which suffered high volatility and their first year of net capital outflows since 1988, according to the Institute of International Finance.
Worst hit was Aberdeen, which fell out of the FTSE 100 as its shares lost a third of their value and assets under management tanked 13 per cent to £284bn in the year to September. Given the continued drop in the share price since the start of the year, the market clearly expects the trend to continue.
Others had a very strong 2015. Strategies that focused on developed market equities and stocks buffeted by Europe's experiment with quantitative easing found investors looking for strong returns in a low-rate environment. This was particularly true of Henderson (HGG) and Jupiter (JUP), both of which increased global distribution networks and attracted net inflows in the year.