The Rapid Growth of Open Architecture in the Japanese Investment Trust Industry

A good grasp of the current situation is necessary if Japan's Investment Trust Law is to be amended properly. Open architecture is already well established in the Japanese investment trust market in that funds managed by other groups account for roughly half of the funds marketed by Japan's top fund distributors. Furthermore, since more than half of group funds are actually managed externally, the proportion of de facto open architecture funds is about 70%. Moreover, roughly 70% of the funds managed by Japan's top fund managers are available for distribution by non-group distributors