Fund gatekeepers and selectors are also much more diligent about fixed income fund composition, and there is considerably more forensic analysis of bond funds than there was in 2006.
Such improved analysis and learnt lessons augur well. Bond funds might remain in calm waters for a while longer, but there is certainly a sea change coming in terms of rates and central bank activity.
Another cloud is passive money.
Flows into pan-European bond exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are growing considerably: for the first half of this year they constituted 10 per cent of all bond fund flows. In current conditions, a decade on from the financial crisis, I for one would prefer an active captain in charge of the bond ship.
Jake Moeller is head of UK and Ireland research at Thomson Reuters Lipper
