A British exit from the European Union would disrupt UK asset managers more than their investment banking counterparts, with questions over their ability to distribute and manage funds, as well as the location of their future headquarters.

This was the striking vision of uncertainty projected by a team of respected analysts at Morgan Stanley, led by Huw van Steenis, in a recent research note warning that fund managers would be caught in the eye of a storm if the country voted to leave the European Union in 2016 or 2017.