Asset management companies have become much better over the past few years at putting in place contingency plans for emergencies. But the problem is that such events remain unpredictable.

Aberdeen's Martin Gilbert said: "When split-caps hit us, we did not really have a plan. We had no experience of that sort of thing. Nowadays, asset managers are much more risk-aware than they were seven to eight years ago because we have seen what has happened to the banking sector.