After a decade of passive dominance, scrutiny is turning: regulators and asset owners are examining the side effects of index concentration. For every buy-side trading desk, this is the backdrop to every budget conversation and headcount justification.

• Where active management genuinely wins — and how to make that case with evidence

• What the trading desk specifically contributes to active outperformance

• How to articulate desk value to the people who fund it, in the language they respond to

• The internal business case for the human desk — sharpened for 2027