12th annual ranking highlights that
investment strategy and solidity distinguish leading asset
managers
NEW
YORK, March 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The latest
edition of Broadridge's Fund Brand 50 (FB50), an annual research
study by global Fintech leader Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.
(NYSE:BR) was released today, highlighting the world's
best-performing third-party asset management brands. U.S. fund
selectors identified appealing investment strategy and solidity as
the top priority attributes amid market volatility that has
derailed a decade of momentum.
"U.S. fund buyers sought the security of tried-and-tested
products with regular income components and low risk, while
displaying a preference for established brands with a proven track
record of high performance," said Jeff
Tjornehoj, Senior Director of Distribution Insights,
Broadridge. "Asset managers jostled to differentiate themselves by
developing their product offering and increasing transparency. But
the overall effect was something of a closed shop, as fund
selectors doubled down and largely kept their business where it
was."
The independent study measures and ranks asset managers'
relative brand attractiveness based on fund selector perceptions:
taking into account 10 brand attributes to reveal the top U.S. and
global brands. This is the latest study from Broadridge's Data and
Analytics business and highlights the depth and breadth of the
firm's global market insights.
Top-10 U.S. Asset Management Brands
Rank
|
Fund
Group
|
Change
|
1
|
BlackRock
|
No Change
|
2
|
Vanguard
|
No Change
|
3
|
Capital
Group
|
No Change
|
4
|
Fidelity
|
No Change
|
5
|
JPMorgan AM
|
No Change
|
6
|
PIMCO
|
No Change
|
7
|
T. Rowe
Price
|
No Change
|
8
|
Franklin
Templeton
|
↑ 1
|
9
|
Dimensional Fund
Advisors
|
↑ 1
|
10
|
Goldman
Sachs
|
↓ 2
|
Key insights
The top brands, led by BlackRock, are all industry giants in
terms of both assets under management and operational scale. The
top-seven firms maintained their positions from last year, while
the rest of the top-10 shuffled positions. Firms lower down the
rankings struggled to make gains and break into these coveted
positions.
Amid a turbulent climate, fund buyers were reluctant to make new
engagements, and larger firms shored up their position at the top
end of the leaderboard.
U.S. fund buyers wanted a wide range of products to choose from
and favored asset managers that could offer this. However, this
desire for choice accompanied a risk-off stance, as selectors
relied heavily on a smaller core of safe investments. This led to a
proliferation of products vying for limited 'shelf space'. Despite
a potential oversupply of U.S. fund products, the supermarket style
offering of brands like BlackRock remained popular with fund
selectors.
In this crowded marketplace, fund selectors highly valued
approachable, knowledgeable fund specialists, whose high levels of
client service lessened the research burden required of
them.
Valued attributes
U.S. fund selectors chose 'Appealing investment strategy' as the
most important brand attribute in 2022, as they did in 2021.
Clients wanted plenty of choice, but they also placed their trust
in a relatively small pool of proven products. Maintaining a
product mix that suits most investors ensures that advisors aren't
constantly catching up on new products.
Unsurprisingly, U.S. fund selectors valued 'Solidity' highly in
such a volatile climate, ranking that attribute as the second most
important factor in their selections – as they did in 2021.
'Knowledge and understanding of the markets', 'Client-oriented
thinking' and 'Experts in what they do' made up the remainder of
the top-five brand attributes.
Additional findings from this year's study include:
- Product development led the way for fund selector preferences
in 2022. The steady rise of model portfolios proved a
differentiator – Broadridge's proprietary algorithm has identified
over 15,000 models in use as of year-end 2022. Asset managers are
frantically deploying new models to latch onto trends such as ESG,
tax aware and proprietary & hybrid models.
- ETFs also proved a differentiator, particularly as they marked
firms out as innovative and able to adapt quickly to new market
realities.
- Transparency of fees and portfolios also proved a competitive
advantage for asset managers. Direct indexing technology is
becoming a must-have function, as major asset managers jockey for
position with financial advisors.
About the research
The Broadridge Fund Brand 50 report is an annual study
monitoring the influence of brand on third-party fund selection.
The study is based on intensive interviews with more than 1,200 of
the most significant fund selectors in Europe, the U.S. and APAC. Fund selectors name
their top-three suppliers across the following 10 brand
attributes:
- Appealing investment strategy
- Solidity
- Knowledge of the market where they operate
- Client-oriented thinking
- Expert in what they do
- Thinks and acts globally
- Keeping best informed
- Stability of investment management team
- Innovation/adaptation to market change
- Social responsibility/sustainability
These answers, as well as commentary from other preference
questions, are collated using statistical analysis and transformed
into a 'Total Brand Score', on which groups are ranked.
Asset managers, consultants and other industry stakeholders
interested in receiving the in-depth Broadridge Fund Brand 50
analysis can make their request via the Fund Brand 50 information
page.
About Broadridge
Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE: BR), a global Fintech
leader with more than $5 billion in
revenues, provides the critical infrastructure that powers
investing, corporate governance and communications to enable better
financial lives. We deliver technology-driven solutions that drive
business transformation for banks, broker-dealers, asset and wealth
managers and public companies. Broadridge's infrastructure serves
as a global communications hub enabling corporate governance by
linking thousands of public companies and mutual funds to tens of
millions of individual and institutional investors around the
world. Our technology and operations platforms underpin the daily
trading of more than U.S. $9 trillion
of equities, fixed income and other securities globally. A
certified Great Place to Work®, Broadridge is part of the S&P
500® Index, employing over 14,000 associates in 21 countries.
For more information about us, please visit broadridge.com.
Media Contacts:
Matthew Luongo
Prosek Partners
+1 646-818-9279
mluongo@prosek.com
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SOURCE Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.