The U.S. credit crisis will most likely hurt fund performance in the short-term and spur consolidation in the asset management industry, experts said on Thursday.
"The liquidity crisis will have the impact of lowering returns because there will be less leverage available," the founder of Lipper Advisory Services, Michael Lipper, told a Mutual Fund Directors Forum conference.
"It will also have some impact on the plans of privately managed fund companies on expanding on using external debt capital."
In the first three months of the year, U.S. equity funds posted their worst quarterly performance in 5-1/2 years, according to Lipper Inc data.
