Fewer than one in ten hedge fund managers expect fees to decrease across the board, while they expect global industry assets to increase from an average estimate of $1.73 trillion at the end of 2009 to $1.99 trillion by the end of 2010, says the Annual Hedge Fund Manager Survey from Credit Suisse.

The survey was compiled by the bank’s Prime Services group and reflects the views of managers representing over $475 billion in hedge fund assets under management – of which 48 per cent by number are in the US, 34 per cent in Europe and 18 per cent in Asia.

While under one tenth of managers expect fees to fall across the board, two thirds think investors who are willing to lock up their capital for longer periods will be able to pay lower fees.

Unsurprisingly, managers reported that investors’ due diligence processes had increased significantly since the financial crisis of 2008, with the average length having increased from 5.8 months to 7.5 months. Meanwhile, the proportion of funds of hedge funds typically completing their due diligence within three months had fallen from 41 per cent to only 9 per cent.

In terms of the direction the industry is heading, managers showed a lot of interest in managed accounts and UCITs funds. Some 47 per cent of respondents manage one or more managed accounts, and a further 39 per cent intend to or are investigating how to do so.

Only 9 per cent offer a UCITs product but a further 41 per cent intend to or are investigating the option. However in Europe the proportion is much higher, with 70 per cent of managers either managing a UCITs product or looking closely into doing so.