The U.S. asset-management market is maturing, creating a fight for customers and assets that analysts say is likely to blur lines between institutional and retail investing styles.

"We're seeing a lot of companies that used to focus almost solely on mutual funds start to make more moves into the institutional side of the market," said Karen Remmele, a senior analyst at Cerulli Associates, which tracks asset managers.

The result is that investors in coming years can expect to find more alternative types of funds in their retirement plans. These include different types of hard assets such as commodities and real estate, as well as greater use of hedge-like strategies.

Fund Firms Add Products to Attract Sophisticated Investors
Source: Yahoo! Finance