If it was a level playing field then what you said is true, i.e. provide better services in the asset management space. However, the reality is more complicated.<p>Firstly, financial education. How many asset managers like pension funds want to put part of their portfolios in hedge funds even when their returns are sub-par. The industry is very opaque in terms of disclosing returns, and many indices are biased upward due to survivorship bias.<p>Secondly, the lobbying to keep the taxes at a low, and other tax loopholes, onshore and offshore, mean that the profits made by the industry are taxed lower than what would be made by a manufacturing firm.<p>The industry as a whole will never be truly free-market due to many regulations and laws, so your point about having a universal solution for everyone to invest across borders is probably not going to be realized in the next several decades at least.