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 European fund selectors placed higher importance on ‘Appealing investment strategy’ than their US and APAC counterparts, and turned away from active mutual funds to seek efficient returns in alternatives and active ETFs.
“An unchanged trio of US fund providers top the brand ranking. JP Morgan closed the gap further in 2024 on first-ranked BlackRock, as both groups score highly across all 10 brand attributes, except ‘Social responsibility/sustainability’. European groups are still well-represented at the top table, making up five of the top 10, with DWS breaking into the top 10 for the first time,” said Barbara Wall, Director, EMEA Insights, Broadridge.
Battered by turbulent geopolitical changes, worsening fee compression, and painful cuts to resources, asset managers had to innovate to stay afloat – with many of the most successful managers diversifying into up-and-coming investment vehicles. The nascent European active ETF and semi-liquid alternatives segments proved two of the most interesting (and profitable) in 2024.
Managers also had to adapt to shifting client needs, adopting new approaches to pricing and client service. While having a distinct product range remains essential, it is more of hygiene factor than a differentiator. Today’s fund selector expects intuitive client service, highly effective and strategic communications, and thorough expertise in newer and more complex product segments – although EMEA selectors place a lower premium on ‘Solidity’ than their APAC and US counterparts.
The independent study, now in its 14th 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, APAC, and the US. FB50 also reveals the local market brand leaders in Europe and APAC’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
|
0
|
|
2
|
JPMorgan AM
|
0
|
|
3
|
Fidelity
|
0
|
|
4
|
Pictet AM
|
0
|
|
5
|
Amundi
|
0
|
|
6
|
iShares
|
0
|
|
7
|
Vanguard
|
+2
|
|
8
|
Robeco
|
-1
|
|
9
|
Schroders
|
-1
|
|
10
|
DWS
|
+1
|
Key insights
While BlackRock’s position at the apex of the leaderboard has looked unassailable for several years now, second-placed JPMorgan is gaining ground fast – setting up a showdown for supremacy in Europe next year. The top-five global brands, led by BlackRock, are all industry giants in terms of both assets under management and operational scale. While the top five remain unchanged from last year, there is significant jostling for position in the rest of the top 10 – as well as plenty of fast risers and new entrants throughout the top 50. This was largely to the benefit of passive specialists, many of whom shot up the rankings. While active managers generally struggled in EMEA, there were some notable risers too, such as Baillie Gifford and Artemis.
It was a tough year for ESG, as the phenomenon of ‘greenwashing’ which has been written about so much in recent years – where managers seek to embellish the environmental bona fides of products with tenuous environmental credentials to make them more appealing to socially conscious investors – pivoted into something very different as the pendulum of political pressure swung the other way: giving rise to yet another new term, ‘greenhushing’. With ESG increasingly out of vogue, several firms strongly associated with sustainability and social responsibility were negatively impacted, most notably Robeco and Nordea. Firms are increasingly reluctant to champion their ESG credentials for fear of their brand being politicised or even opened up to legal challenges.
European investors turned in their droves to new asset classes, with equity ETF providers recording their best year ever, and generalists looking to improve their alternatives offering – with a particular flurry of activity coming from the number of semi-liquid strategy launches.
Top valued attributes
The top-five most important attributes in Europe were unchanged overall in FB50 2025 – although there were some shifts in the order of priority. While ‘Appealing investment strategy’ retained pole position, ‘Expert in what they do’ pushed ‘Client-oriented thinking’ down into third place, as rising client demand for non-traditional asset class exposure proved a key differentiator. ‘Keeping best informed’ and 'Solidity' retained their top-five placements, as fund selectors expect clear and effective communication, and seek solidity in well-established and well-trusted brands with a proven track record. Selectors also stressed the importance of state-of-the-art communications.
In a year dominated by notable mergers and acquisitions, ‘Solidity’ and ‘Stability of investment management team’ were also high on the radar of fund selectors. Asset managers face a challenge in trying to balance achieving scale and building a reputation in popular and up-and-coming investment strategies on one hand, while working to ensure that acquisitions enrich rather than dilute brand perception on the other.
‘Social responsibility/sustainability’ slumped to last place in this year’s ranking, where it also finished in APAC and the US. While it would be premature to proclaim the death of ESG, it is certainly in need of a reboot.
Additional findings from this year’s study include:
- With ETFs dominating flows and cost pressures rising rapidly, it is no surprise to see the top-10 ranking prominently featuring a number of passive fund specialists.
- While BlackRock maintained its dominant position in the region as a whole, there were some losses at the market level. The global giant was pushed out of the top spots in Germany and Italy by JPMorgan. BlackRock also appears second in Sweden and Switzerland, and has dropped two rungs in France, appearing fourth behind Natixis, Pictet, and Amundi.
- Pictet was stung by the backlash against thematic investments, as selectors ditched active funds in favour of less expensive index-tracking products and ETFs. This performance is typical for active managers, although there is a swell of belief that active management will see a recovery this year as gains become harder to come by.
- Growing demand for ETFs also affected bond specialist PIMCO, who dropped two rungs into 12th position this year. Some managers found they can get similar exposure from ETFs at a lower price point, and more efficiently than from fixed income products. It wasn’t all bad news for PIMCO though, as the firm was widely praised for their communications.
A webinar is scheduled for 1 April at 2:00pm BST | 9:00am EST | 9:00pm CST to reveal the top asset management brands in each region. Registration is available to all at https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/4856337/C31EF5B7BB12C227237FC751069B4526 and is now open.
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 in Europe, APAC, and the US with more than 1,200 of the most significant fund selectors and gatekeepers – the key decision makers who choose which funds and groups are added to a distributor’s buy list. Interviewees name their top-three suppliers across the following 10 brand attributes.
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 in Europe, APAC, and the US with more than 1,200 of the most significant fund selectors and gatekeepers – the key decision makers who choose which funds and groups are added to a distributor’s buy list. Interviewees name their top-three suppliers across the following 10 brand attributes.
-
Appealing investment strategy
- Expert in what they do
- Client-oriented thinking
- Keeping best-informed
- Solidity
- Innovation/adaptation to market
- Key international player
- Stability of investment management team
- 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.
