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 12th 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
|
Rank |
Fund Group |
Change |
|
1 |
BlackRock |
No Change |
|
2 |
JPMorgan AM |
No Change |
|
3 |
Fidelity |
No Change |
|
4 |
Pictet AM |
No Change |
|
5 |
Amundi |
↑ 1 |
|
6 |
Robeco |
↓ 1 |
|
7 |
Schroders |
No Change |
|
8 |
iShares |
↑ 3 |
|
9 |
Nordea |
↑ 1 |
|
10 |
Flossbach von Storch |
↑ 3 |
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.
