* Client demand, regulation forcing banks to shed fund arms
* Other banks in the frame include UBS, Goldman
* BGI/BlackRock deal helps solve U.S. regulatory issues
By Raji Menon and Joel Dimmock
LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) - Consolidation in the asset management industry is set to intensify as encroaching regulation and client demands for independence force banks to hive off fund arms, Barclays said on Friday.
Major investment banks were finding it ever harder to keep hold of their fund divisions, Barclays President Bob Diamond told a conference call after agreeing to sell Barclays Global Investors to BlackRock for $13.5 billion.
"The investment management industry is in early days of consolidation... We've made a clear decision that this trend is in place for a while and that is around independence," he said.
"The rate of growth of the independents has been double that of the banks and the reason for that is clear. It's increasingly difficult for a bank like Barclays to have a top-tier position in institutional investment banking and in institutional investment management," Diamond said.
Kevin Pakenham, managing director of Jefferies Putnam Lovell told Reuters this week: "The more distressed the bank, the more likely it's going to be to move to a sale."
Institutions with government backing, like Goldman Sachs and Royal Bank of Scotland will likely be forced to sell fund and other units to boost capital, he said. UBS has been flagged by analysts as another potential seller.
Diamond said that among the largest 50 global asset managers, independent firms now hold half the assets -- even before the BGI deal -- compared to 30 percent 10 years ago.
U.S. OPPORTUNITY
"There are a number of pieces of empirical evidence saying this is the way the industry is trending, that's partly a consequence of client preference and partly a consequence of regulation," said Barclays Chief Executive John Varley. "It's amplified in our case by the fact that the Lehman transaction has changed the scale of Barclays Capital."
The cash from BlackRock will help boost capital, as required by regulators, and the deal also gives Barclays and BGI scope to target the U.S. pension market, previously hampered by rules barring units from trading with one another.
The deal to buy Lehman's U.S. operations last September exacerbated those issues.
"These related party issues in a consolidating business were becoming a real business issue and that really drives the move towards independence," Diamond said.
" gives us a much clearer path for related party transactions."
In a call with analysts on Friday, Diamond said the BlackRock deal could open up access to hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenues for Barclays, a spokesman said.
It has been a hot period for asset management M&A.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Lloyds Banking Group was in talks to sell part of Insight Investment in a management buyout backed by private equity.
Switzerland's Julius Baer last month spun off its asset management operations, and earlier this year, Societe Generale sold its UK fund arm to hedge fund firm GLG. Aberdeen Asset Management has also bought Credit Suisse's UK fund arm. (Editing by Sitaraman Shankar)