Luxembourg – September 21, 2023 – Fidelity, BlackRock, Robeco, and JPMorgan Asset Management were the major category winners of the 2023 Broadridge Distribution Achievement Awards. This year marked the seventh edition of the awards, which were founded to recognise excellence in various aspects of fund distribution: specifically, to celebrate the hard work and resourcefulness of marketing, sales, and client service teams in the fund distribution market.

“The Broadridge global distribution awards are drawn from our authoritative, in-depth research and exhaustive interviews with leading fund selectors in both Europe and Asia Pacific, and truly reflect the opinion of the mutual funds industry,” said Lynn Pattinson, Director, Broadridge Global Distribution Insights. “This year’s nominees and winners have all exhibited their considerable ability to navigate through challenging times and to meet the changing demands and needs of their clients.”

This year’s winners reflect the diverse range of talent and enterprise displayed by the leading asset management teams working across the industry. Global heavyweights BlackRock and Fidelity are among the Top Providers recognised, while Vanguard and Goldman Sachs are among the Fastest Risers.

“Through their diligent efforts, these exceptional teams have helped in offering fitting investment solutions to investors," stated Camille Thommes, Director General of ALFI. “Within a worldwide context characterised by market fluctuations and evolving investor preferences, long-term investment funds assume a crucial responsibility in funding businesses and governments, acting as a catalyst for financial growth and stability. Warm congratulations to these tenacious achievers."

The awards are based on responses from over 800 of Europe’s leading third-party fund selectors from Broadridge’s Fund Buyer Focus interviews conducted in the 12-month period to June 2023. The interviews seek to pinpoint the changing demands of Europe’s key fund distribution influencers, and to identify the fund providers that are delivering best-in-class standards. These fund selectors represent around €3trn of third-party client assets in Europe and provide a representative voice of investors in the ten markets they serve.

Award categories and winners:

Client Service Award

Top Provider: Fidelity
Fastest Riser: Vanguard

The relationship between clients and sales teams has evolved dramatically over recent years. Today’s investors have more complex demands, and successful sales and account management teams must continue to evolve their offering to develop richer and more nuanced relationships.

Fidelity retained the top spot in this category in 2023 – as they built upon the standard they set in 2022 for combining deep technical expertise with optimal, client-centric service – while Vanguard’s marked improvement in this category was enough to take home the Fastest Riser Award.

Marketing & Communications Award

Top Provider: BlackRock
Fastest Riser: UBS

Bringing the many functions of asset management together to form a single brand with a cohesive identity across all communications channels and touchpoints is one of the key challenges that faces firms of all sizes.

This year’s winners lead the way with their marketing and communications work. BlackRock once again retained its spot atop the leaderboard, as the firm’s supermarket-style offering, bolstered by its newer ESG products, further solidified the firm’s reputation as Marketing & Communications leaders among European fund selectors.

Meanwhile, UBS made great strides with their Marketing & Communications performance to take home the Fastest Riser award in this category.

ESG Award

Top Provider: Robeco
Fastest Riser: Goldman Sachs

It has been a difficult year for ESG, as we witnessed something of a ‘green backlash’. With both managers and products coming under increased scrutiny, firms must work harder than ever to demonstrate their environmental bona fides and avoid accusations of greenwashing. Robeco’s legacy as an early pioneer of ESG and thematic investing – as well as the firm’s proven environmental track record in recent years – allowed them to build a healthy lead over their competitors this year. Therefore, it is no surprise to see Robeco come out on top in this category, as the firm wins the award for the sixth consecutive year.

In the last few years, the Fastest Riser award in this category has been dominated by smaller players while many of the large global houses, particularly from the US, have lagged. The acquisition by Goldman Sachs of NNIP has been a significant driver of the change in perception of the American giant as an up and coming force in the ESG space.

APAC – Business Growth Award

Top Provider: JPMorgan Asset Management

This marks the second year that Broadridge have presented the APAC – Business Growth Award. 

Global brands can face challenges establishing themselves in the APAC region – particularly in countries that have an industry of established local players.

JPMorgan Asset Management are this year’s winners, as they led the way with solid brand performance, a reputation for expertise, and an expansive product range.

For Further Information:

Broadridge EMEA
BroadridgeEMEA@cognitomedia.com

ALFI
Luis Salerno
Head of Communications
Tel: +352 22 30 26 1

Notes to editors:

Broadridge Distribution Achievement Awards

The Broadridge Distribution Achievement Awards are based on Broadridge’s authoritative Fund Buyer Focus fund selector analysis and the interview results collected during the period between 1 July 2022–30 June 2023. This regular analysis, which has been running for more than a decade, is based on in-depth telephone interviews, in local language, with over 800 fund selectors from 10 European countries every year. These fund selectors account for €3trn of third-party assets — or an estimated 70% of accessible third-party assets in Europe. The focus of the interviews is to provide feedback to asset managers on which fund groups these selectors prefer to work with overall and to identify which firms offer superior support in the categories of marketing, sales and account management, product quality, brand, and pricing.

The APAC Fund Buyer Focus interviews started in 2019. We interview ~350 fund selectors annually from seven Asia-Pacific countries. These fund selectors account for over €2trn of third-party assets or an estimated 60% of accessible third-party assets in Asia Pacific.

Fund selectors are asked to nominate their three preferred suppliers in each category on an unprompted basis. The top supplier is awarded three points; the second, two points; and the third, one point. This data is then aggregated to produce a ranking of named fund groups that can be compared from one time period to another. The awards are based on the latest rankings available – the period is the 12 months to June 2023.

Fastest Risers are calculated from a comparison between June 2023 data and the previous 12 months to June 2022.

The Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) represents the face and voice of the Luxembourg asset management and investment fund community, championing mainstream, private assets and sustainable investing. ALFI seeks to promote Luxembourg’s fund sector internationally, and to cultivate for the benefit of its members a collaborative, dynamic and innovative ecosystem underpinned by the most robust regulatory framework. ALFI’s ambition is to empower investors to meet their life goals.

Created in 1988, the Association today represents over 1,500 Luxembourg-domiciled investment funds, asset management companies and a wide range of businesses that serve the sector. These include depositary banks, fund administrators, transfer agents, distributors, legal firms, consultants, tax advisory firms, auditors and accountants, specialist IT and communication companies. Luxembourg is the largest fund domicile in Europe and a worldwide leader in cross-border distribution of funds. Luxembourg-domiciled investment funds are distributed in more than 70 countries around the world.

To keep up with all the news from ALFI and the fund industry in Luxembourg, follow us on LinkedIn, X (@ALFIfunds), YouTube and Flickr.

For more information please visit www.alfi.lu.