Financial asset management The most frequent usage of the term
portfolio manager (asset manager) refers to
investment management, the sector of the
financial services industry that manages
investment funds and
segregated client accounts. Asset management is part of a financial company that employs experts who manage money and handle the investments of clients. This is done either actively or passively. •
Active asset management: involves active tasks such as studying the client's assets to plan and look after the investments, all things are looked after by the asset managers, and recommendations are provided based on the financial health of each client. Active asset management comes at a higher price to investors because more work is involved. •
Passive asset management: assets are allocated to mirror a market or a sector index. Unlike active asset management, passive asset management is a lot less laborious. It is also less tailored, requires less looking after, and consequently is cheaper for investors. In recent decades, passive investment strategies such as index funds and exchange-traded funds have significantly increased in market share.(Vanguard report) Benjamin Braun suggests that, since American stock ownership is concentrated on few big asset managers which are very diversified and do not have a direct interest in the performance of the companies, this emerging "asset manager capitalism" is distinct from the earlier
shareholder primacy.
Physical and Infrastructure asset management Physical and Infrastructure asset management is the combination of management, financial, economic, engineering, and other practices applied to physical assets to provide the best value level of service for the costs involved. It includes the management of the entire life cycle—including design, construction, commissioning, operating, maintaining, repairing, modifying, replacing, and decommissioning/disposal—of physical and infrastructure assets. Operation and maintenance of assets in a constrained budget environment require a prioritization scheme. For instance, the recent development of
renewable energy has seen the rise of effective asset managers involved in the management of solar systems (solar parks, rooftops, and windmills). These teams often collaborate with financial asset managers in order to offer
turnkey solutions to investors. Infrastructure asset management became very important in most of the developed countries in the 21st century, since their infrastructure network was almost completed in the 20th century and they have to operate and maintain them cost-effectively. Physical, or Infrastructure, Asset Management is a growing specialist engineering discipline, with many technical societies now established to advance knowledge in this area, including the Engineers Australia technical society of the Asset Management Council (AMC), the World Partners in Asset Management (WPiAM), Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals (SMRP), the Institute of Asset Management (IAM), the International Society of Engineering Asset Management (ISEAM), and the Global Forum on Maintenance and Asset Management (GFMAM).
Engineering asset management Engineering asset management is a more recent term that describes the management of complex physical assets, a specific engineering practice that is concerned with optimizing assets, in the context of the organization's goals and objectives, using multidiscipline engineering methodologies, and
Terotechnology (which includes management, engineering, and financial expertise), to balance cost, risk, and performance. Engineering asset management includes multiple engineering disciplines, including but not limited to
maintenance engineering,
systems engineering,
reliability engineering,
process safety management,
industrial engineering, and
risk analysis. Engineering asset management is a term synonymous with physical and infrastructure asset management, it describes management of more complex physical assets which require the application of specialist asset management engineering methods over their life-cycles in order to maximize value for their owners, whilst keeping risk to an acceptable level.
Natural asset management Natural assets include things such as
forests,
marine areas,
peatlands, and
farmland. To manage and invest in these assets,
Natural asset companies (NACs) are a new type of company designed to give private investors a vehicle for direct investment in conservation and regenerative
land management. NACs license rights to the value of natural assets, including ecosystem services such as carbon retention, freshwater generation, groundwater storage, pollination, and erosion prevention. They are intended to manage designated areas, such as forests, grasslands, marine areas, or farms and ranches. NACs have an equity capital structure. In September 2021, the
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Intrinsic Exchange Group (IEG) jointly announced plans to introduce NACs as a publicly listed asset class. Supporters argue that NACs incentivize landowners to conserve and improve the natural capital as it correlates to the value of the company, and investors are rewarded for gains in the value of the underlying natural assets. The
ISO 55000 series provides terminology, requirements, and guidance for implementing, maintaining and improving an effective asset management system. The key to forming a structure of this sort is directly connected to local governance. • Physical asset management: the practice of managing the entire life cycle (design, construction, commissioning, operating, maintaining, repairing, modifying, replacing, and decommissioning/disposal) of physical and infrastructure assets such as structures, production, and service plant, power, water, and waste treatment facilities, distribution networks, transport systems, buildings, and other physical assets. The increasing availability of data from asset systems is allowing the principles of
Total Cost of Ownership to be applied to facility management of an individual system, a building, or across a campus. Physical asset management is related to
asset health management. •
Infrastructure asset management expands on this theme in relation primarily to the public sector,
utilities, property, and transport systems. Additionally, Asset Management can refer to shaping the future interfaces between the human, built, and natural environments through collaborative and evidence-based decision processes •
Fixed assets management: an accounting process that seeks to track fixed assets for
financial accounting •
IT asset management: the set of business practices that join financial, contractual, and inventory functions to support life cycle management and strategic decision making for the IT environment. •
Digital asset management: a form of electronic media
content management that includes digital assets
Enterprise asset management Enterprise asset management (EAM) systems are asset
information systems that support the management of an organization's assets. An EAM includes an asset registry (inventory of assets and their attributes) combined with a
computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) and other modules (such as inventory or materials management). Assets that are geographically distributed, interconnected or networked, are often also represented through the use of
geographic information systems (GIS). GIS-centric asset registry standardizes data and improves interoperability, providing users the capability to reuse, coordinate, and share information efficiently and effectively. A GIS platform combined with information of both the "hard" and "soft" assets helps to remove the traditional silos of departmental functions. While the
hard assets are the typical physical assets or infrastructure assets, the soft assets might include permits, licenses, brands, patents, right-of-ways, and other entitlements or valued items.
Public asset management Public asset management expands the definition of enterprise asset management (EAM) by incorporating the management of all things of value to a municipal
jurisdiction and its citizens' expectations. An example in which public asset management is used is land-use development and planning. ==Intellectual and non-physical asset management==