U.S. Fund Brand 50

12th annual ranking highlights that investment strategy and solidity distinguish leading asset managers

NEW YORK – March 28, 2023 – 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

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.

Europe Fund Brand 50

BlackRock maintains top position in Broadridge’s Fund Brand 50 global asset manager rankings amid market volatility

LONDON – 28^th March 2023 – 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. The study reveals ‘green’ credentials are more coveted – and more scrutinised – by European fund selectors than ever before.

“This development follows news of a European Commission clarification on funds which market themselves under the ‘deepest green’ Article 9 classification,” said Liam Martin, Director of EMEA Insights, Broadridge. Despite this development, the incentive for firms to establish their environmental bona fides is stronger than ever, as Broadridge Fund Buyer Focus Intelligence (FBFI) reveals European fund selector sentiment appetite for ESG assets proved to be one of the sole positive areas of demand through 2022’s collapse in risk appetite.

The independent study, now in its 12^th year, measures and ranks asset managers’ relative brand attractiveness based on fund selector perceptions: taking into account 10 brand attributes to reveal the top global and regional brands in Europe, the U.S. and APAC. FB50 also reveals the local market brand leaders in APAC and Europe’s most significant retail markets for third-party fund distribution. 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 European Asset Management Brands

Key insights

The top-five global brands, led by BlackRock, are all industry giants in terms of both assets under management and operational scale. The top firms continue to jostle for pole position, and there has been some change at the top end of the leaderboard. The remainder of the top-50 list sees selector’s favourite companies run the gamut, from niche product and local market specialists to the major one-stop-shop providers.

In the wake of the announcement of the European Commission’s clampdown on ‘greenwashing’, ESG credentials are vital to fund buyers.

This provides asset managers with a chance to translate ‘green’ credentials into a genuine competitive advantage. This year’s FB50 study shows that positive perceptions of a firm’s ESG credentials can have an outsized impact on the success of smaller managers. Firms who have their Article 9 credentials revoked run the risk of reputational damage.

But ESG isn’t the only shift affecting fund buyer sentiment. High-performing pandemic-era growth strategies are beginning to suffer course correction, which in some cases has led to managers sharply dropping down the leaderboard. An extensive re-rating of former growth market beneficiaries is likely to define the next few years.

In some cases, the reputational damage was along extreme lines: firms facing scandal, criminal proceedings or significant exposure to Russia all suffered steep drops down the leaderboard. We are clearly in a new era of ethical investing, where fund buyers will not maintain relationships with firms whose activities fail to meet their moral standards, regardless of fund performance.

Valued attributes

European selectors valued ‘Client-orientated thinking’ as the most important brand attribute, ahead of last year’s favourite, ‘Appealing investment strategy’. Clearly a year of upheaval has led fund buyers to feel more comfortable when they are the focus of attention, with selectors placing a high value on those they can trust to respond and meet their needs. Despite the rise of new metrics for measuring asset manager value, good client service never goes out of fashion.

The rest of the top five was as follows: ‘Appealing invest strategy, ‘Expert in what they do’, ‘Keeping best informed’ and ‘Innovation/adaptation to change’ – revealing some changes in preference from last year’s ranking.

Additional findings from this year’s study include:

• Expert reputation drove the fastest-rising brands in Europe: whether the magic touch of a maverick founder; an unorthodox mixture of star-led and qualitative teams; or stock-selection-focused active managers with strong ‘green’ credentials, firms enjoying positive fund buyer perceptions of expertise made up ground on larger asset managers as they shot up the rankings.
• With many European fund buyers facing SFDR headaches, firms with strong communications and disclosure capabilities found themselves enjoying a major competitive advantage.

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 US and APAC. Fund selectors name their top-three suppliers across 10 brand attributes.

These attributes are as follows:

• Client-oriented thinking
• Appealing investment strategy
• Expert in what they do
• Keeping best informed
• Innovation/adaptation to market change
• Stability of investment management team
• Solidity
• Key international player
• Local knowledge
• 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.

APAC Fund Brand 50

Broadridge Fund Brand 50 study reveals best-performing fund brands globally

SINGAPORE – 28^th March 2023 – 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. The study reveals that APAC fund buyers have become more cautious, particularly regarding product selection and the firms they work with.

“APAC fund selectors adopted a risk-off stance, displaying a preference for global brands with proven track records, appealing investment strategies and low-risk products with regular income components,” said Evonne Gan, Engagement Manager, Asset Management Advisory at Broadridge. “Solidity was more important to fund selectors in APAC than in other regions, as buyers looked to consolidate business among firms with whom they have an existing relationship.”

The independent study, now in its 12^th year, measures and ranks asset managers’ relative brand attractiveness based on fund selector perceptions: taking into account 10 brand attributes to reveal the top global and regional brands in Europe, the US and APAC. FB50 also reveals the local market brand leaders in APAC and Europe’s most significant retail markets for third-party fund distribution. 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 APAC Asset Management Brands

Key insights

There was no change among the top-five brands, led by BlackRock, as global industry giants in terms of both assets under management and operational scale continued to dominate – although there was some movement in the top-10. Fund selectors consolidated business among larger firms, who were viewed as more solid – particularly if they had a pre-existing relationship.

The lack of movement at the top of the leaderboard belies turbulent underlying market conditions. Global and local managers had to navigate a more challenging fund landscape across APAC and fund selectors became more cautious as a result. APAC fund selectors took a risk-off stance and displayed a strong preference for low-cost products with minimal exposure to market forces.

The uncertain climate also saw fund buyers placing a premium on expertise. There was demonstrable appetite for high-quality analysis examining the impact of economic and geopolitical uncertainties on markets. Firms that had expert teams in place to provide this analysis, particularly on a tailored basis, found themselves at a significant competitive advantage.

Valued attributes

This preference for safe products was borne out as APAC fund selectors chose ‘Appealing investment strategy’ as the most important brand attribute in 2022. Clients placed their trust in low-risk products and showed a preference for fund products with regular income components.

‘Client-oriented thinking’ featured in second place, with ‘Expert in what they do’ in third, as APAC fund buyers sought personalised service and reassurance.

Despite investors’ tendency seek safe harbour in a volatile climate, APAC fund selectors actually valued ‘Innovation/adaptation to market’ in fourth place, displacing ‘Solidity’, which dropped down to fifth.

Additional findings from this year’s study include:

• In this volatile climate, investors favour brands with solid track records for fund products – which tend to be the larger, global asset managers.
• Investors are more inclined to temper their return expectations in an uncertain market, but fund performance is key, relegating softer factors to secondary concerns.
• Despite geo-political uncertainty, China remains APAC’s most coveted market. Global managers are either already increasing their retail exposure, or actively looking to do so. Asset-gathering in China is highly competitive and remains largely dominated by local firms. However, increasingly cautious Chinese fund selectors are beginning to favour larger global firms due to their more comprehensive product offerings, strong global brand recognition and client service capabilities.

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 10 brand attributes.

These attributes are as follows:

• Appealing investment strategy
• Client-oriented thinking
• Expert in what they do
• Innovation/adaptation to market change
• Solidity
• Stability of investment management team
• Key international player
• Keeping best informed
• Social responsibility/sustainability
• Local knowledge

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.