If it was a level playing field then what you said is true, i.e. provide better services in the asset management space. However, the reality is more complicated.

Firstly, financial education. How many asset managers like pension funds want to put part of their portfolios in hedge funds even when their returns are sub-par. The industry is very opaque in terms of disclosing returns, and many indices are biased upward due to survivorship bias.

Secondly, the lobbying to keep the taxes at a low, and other tax loopholes, onshore and offshore, mean that the profits made by the industry are taxed lower than what would be made by a manufacturing firm.

The industry as a whole will never be truly free-market due to many regulations and laws, so your point about having a universal solution for everyone to invest across borders is probably not going to be realized in the next several decades at least.