Institutional investors have scaled back their search for investment managers and are preferring to focus on strategic issues, according to a survey by Mercer.
The most notable decreases were seen in the UK, Continental Europe and Australia, the survey found.
Investors in these countries are now focusing on strategic issues rather than manager changes and structures.
Search activity in Australia declined from 82 managers in 2007 to 61 managers in 2008.
However, during this period there was a trend of larger placements being made to existing appointed managers.
The amount of assets placed increased from $14 billion to $21 billion, the survey found.
Searches for equity managers formed the bulk of activity in 2008 in Australia, with 18 searches completed and $4.9 billion invested.
Although investors conducted 12 global manager searches, the amount invested in the asset class was higher than in Australian equities, with investors placing a total of $9.1 billion.
An increase in investment manager searches for 2009 is unlikely, according to Mercer principal Marianne Feeley.
"We are not expecting a market increase in 2009 as investors focus on coming to grips with the recent experience of market volatility across all asset classes," she said.
During 2008 Mercer advised on 676 manager searches globally, representing $126 billion in assets.
