It's no secret that getting into the U.S. mutual fund business is not easy, and that view was reinforced at a panel Monday morning at Fund Forum USA 2010 in Boston.

"It's an uphill push," said Keith Hartstein, president and CEO of Boston-based John Hancock Funds [see profile], summing up the challenges that foreign-based aspirants face in planting their flag on U.S. soil.

"It takes three years to get any kind of track record to sell the fund," he told the audience, which consisted of both American and European fund executives. He went on to point out the asset levels needed to hit screens.

Hartsein spoke at a panel called The Challenge of Building a Truly Global Fund Distribution Business along with Carter Sims, head of the U.S. intermediary distribution for Schroder Investment Management [see profile] and Richard Garland, managing director of internatinal distribution at Investec Asset Management. Kevin O'Neill, director of busienss development at RBC DEXIA, served as moderator.

"The barriers to entry are too high," Garland said. "The only way you can break into the U.S. market is to find a partner." 

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