The CEO of German fund house Allianz Global Investors envisages future growth prospects for the global fund industry – which is expected to undergo a huge rise in assets under management – creating a vast number of jobs for financially-trained graduates.

Speaking at the European Investment Conference held by the CFA Institute in London, Allianz GI CEO Elizabeth Corley said that there has been growth, profits are returning, and she envisages future growth prospects for the fund industry.

“We have so much wind on our backs in terms of the flow of assets. We are going to reach new highs,” she said. But she added that her industry still faces the threat of risk-aversion, prompted by financial repression, and there will be no likely change in attitude among retail investors.

Nevertheless PwC, the consultancy firm, predicts that assets under management will surge from $64tn today to more than $100tn in six years’ time. PwC’s report also singled out certain types of fund houses as likely to grow rapidly and hire new staff in the next five years.

Recruiters and business schools notice an uptick in demand for investment management staff, while sales, marketing and compliance functions are hiring strongly across the financial sector.

“We’ve got significant meta trends pushing cash flow towards us,” said Elizabeth. But she said that the fund industry has a “trust deficit”, noting that investment firms are the least-trusted part of the already damaged financial services sector as a whole.

“Trust is highly relevant to the long-term sustainable quality of the investment management industry,” she said.

She highlighted the threat of online fund management firms, saying that customers are now more willing to place their trust and assets in crowdfunding sites than at large financial institutions. “They would rather take advice and put their money into crowdfunding schemes with individuals they’ve never seen than a financial advisor,” Elizabeth said.  

But there remains significant growth in the fund industry, which for candidates with the right qualifications is ripe for the picking. Allianz GI has expanded its number of investment professionals in areas such as emerging market debt, multi-asset investing and infrastructure debt.

The German fund house, part of the Allianz insurance group whose sister fund is Pimco, the blockbuster fixed income manager, now employs more than 2,600 people.

It has achieved strong sales growth after launching a strategy last year to streamline its business. Net third-party inflows at Allianz GI reached €3.1 billion in the first half of 2013, up significantly from €500 million during the same period in 2012. Its solutions business inflows increased from €800 million to €4.8 billion over the same period.

MBAs and CFA holders may be well placed to secure careers at the German giant. Elizabeth said that values are now a huge part of the firm’s culture.

“We have values at the heart of our performance culture – your incentives, promotion and everything else is based not just on the outcomes, but how you behave, the way you treat clients,” she said during her talk on the Future of Finance – an initiative designed by the CFA Institute to reshape the financial industry to focus on trust and ethics. “That’s what the CFA initiative on the future of finance is all about.”

CFA – chartered financial analyst – qualifications have been redesigned to cater to this culture shift. Between 10% and 15% of the CFA curriculum is now focused on ethics, according to Kate Lander, head of education for EMEA at the CFA Institute.

Jacques Olivier, director of finance programs at French business school HEC Paris, said that his MBA students applying for jobs in the financial sector are increasingly being challenged in interviews on ethics, compliance and regulation.

Ethics and corporate responsibility are now a compulsory learning component for all of HEC’s MBA candidates. A course on ethics and compliance is also taught in collaboration with the CFA Institute.

Elizabeth said that as a firm, Allianz GI is involved in a lot of financial training, and contributes to financial education projects.

“We have an economic and a social reason to rebuild trust in our industry,” said Elizabeth.

But PwC predicts that three specific types of fund companies are most likely to grow rapidly and take on new staff in the next five years: fund houses operating in Asian regions, Central America and Africa; passive fund providers, which track an index; and “alternative” houses that specialize in private equity, property or hedge funds.

However, Allianz GI reduced its staff by 150 in a strategic overhaul last month.