It might be fashionable in some quarters to beat up active fund managers for not delivering enough of that precious “Alpha” to justify their fees but the chief executive of UK-listed Jupiter Asset Management is defiant about the benefits of this approach.

“It’s [active management] almost in danger of becoming an endangered species,” Edward Bonham-Carter told journalists and financial advisors at the plush surroundings of Home House in London’s Portman Square on a cold, wintry evening.

The challenge to active managers – and those who follow other approaches – has got a lot sharper since the bull market of the 1990s came to an end, but that does not remove the benefits of active fund management, Bonham-Carter, sporting an eyeball-searing red sweater, said.

“One of the flaws of the industry is that you cannot, obviously, have consistent outperformance. It is an almost statistical probability,” he said, going on to note that in his views, markets will gyrate but in a broadly “sideways” direction for some time as economies in the West deal with the task of cutting their debt piles.

Bonham-Carter was joined by a roster of other Jupiter fund managers who shared their thoughts and fears about issues ranging from the French presidential elections and the likelihood of a eurozone crackup, to the state of the US economy. Overall, your correspondent came away with the impression that this investment house’s managers are concerned at the lack of political will in many nations to tackle these issues. Not even a few fine wines and a good dinner could mask the air of worry.

As for talk of bulls and bears, Bonham-Carter eschews such creatures. Instead, we hacks were given a small model of a cute hippo as our new economic symbol. Well, it is certainly different. Hippos might look quite friendly at a distance but they are said to kill more people than crocodiles.