He noted that there were actually two results of the crisis--thefirst time in the sector's 35-year history that funds were frozen.The first was one of "irrational behavior," he says, as investorspulled their claws in and some 7.2 billion euros in capital werelost to the sector. From AXA's own 1.6-billion-euro total equityvolume, some 300 million euros of capital went south, he adds.

But the second result is one of perceptions, saidHermanns-Engel, and that could be the most telling. "The crisisitself is over," he told GlobeSt.com in an exclusive interview atMipim. "But there is a general doubt about the stability of thefunds," he stated, "and open-ended funds will never be the same asthey were before. They've lost their virginity."

One solution to the perceptions issue is a movement beingspearheaded by the industry's lobbying group, Bundesverband derDeutschen Investmentgesellschaften (BVI). The group isadvocating standards to govern such investor-critical issues asvaluations and transparency. "It will not be easy," saidHermanns-Engel. "These measures have been discussed for years. Butthe freeze has accelerated those discussions."