Best-Performing Fund Brands in APAC and Globally

Broadridge Fund Brand 50 study reveals fund selectors place a premium on expertise and solidity, favouring large global firms.

Best-Performing Fund Brands in APAC and Globally

According to the 2024 Broadridge Fund Brand 50 Report

Broadridge Fund Brand 50 study reveals fund selectors place a premium on expertise and solidity, favouring large global firms. China, however, bucks the wider regional trend and values the local expertise of domestic firms.

SINGAPORE – 26^th March 2024 – 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 selectors placed increasing importance on asset manager expertise in 2023, as a way of offsetting economic and geopolitical uncertainty, downward pressure on fees, and an increasingly onerous regulatory burden.

“A cautious outlook continued throughout the year, and investors prioritised regular payouts in an uncertain climate. The beneficiaries of this were well-trusted providers of fixed-income funds and ETFs with proven track records, as well as larger asset managers with strong jurisdictional brand recognition,” said Evonne Gan, Engagement Manager, APAC Asset Management Advisory at Broadridge. “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 as APAC fund selectors took a risk-off stance and displayed a strong preference for low-cost products with minimal exposure to market forces.”

The independent study, now in its 13^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

Although there was no change among the top-five brands, led by BlackRock, things were shifting under the surface – even if the pace of change at the upper echelons of the leaderboard is more incremental. While the global giants at the top of the rankings maintain their places, their lead is being eroded – particularly in the case of BlackRock. While still in pole position, the firm has not consolidated its overall position in the Asia-Pacific region – as it only achieves a top-five ranking in four of the seven markets and faces stiff competition from local manager dominance in China.

The cautious outlook of 2022 continued into 2023. In an uncertain climate – both globally and within the APAC region – investors prioritised regular payouts. The beneficiaries of this were well-known and well-trusted providers of fixed-income funds and ETFs with proven track records, as well as larger asset managers with strong jurisdictional brand recognition.

One of the big takeaways from the prior last two FB50 reports was the rise of the global managers in China. This year, however, FB50 paints a very different picture. Chinese markets are shunning global firms just as quickly as they took up with them.

Valued attributes

There is significant change among the top attributes this year, which speaks to a marked shift in investor sentiment and behaviour. ‘Expert in what they do’ takes top spot as the most important criteria in FB50 2024, with ‘Appealing Investment Strategy’ in second, and ‘Solidity’ in third. This is a sharp rise in the value of expertise in the region compared to last year – which in turn marks a continuing trend from the year before. As the market has become more sophisticated and globalised, investors have come to realise that merely relying on metrics such as returns or track records is no longer sufficient to achieve their investment goals. Instead, they are looking for asset managers who can provide expert guidance and advice, and who can navigate the complexities of the modern investment landscape.

Solidity is in third place, up from fifth last year, which partially explains why global managers continued to dominate: buoyed by strong brand rankings, large global AUM, and popular and comprehensive investment ranges. All of the top five have a presence in at least six of the seven markets under Broadridge’s coverage in APAC (Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan).

Additional findings from this year’s study include:

• In 2023, competition for assets in China intensified – with strong demand for low-risk products (fixed income funds and ETFs).
• The two leading Asian managers swapped places, with Mirae Asset Global Investments usurping Nomura’s coveted position within the APAC top-10. The largest asset manager in APAC in terms of AUM remains the top-ranked firm in Japan and maintains a healthy seventh place in Taiwan.
• In many ways, Nomura’s situation is emblematic of large Japanese fund firms who have set their sights on expanding to faster-developing markets overseas. But they remain under-represented on the global stage in terms of assets and brand recognition, especially given the size of Japan’s economy.
• In contrast to Japanese firms, Chinese firms are rising quickly in the 2023 brand rankings. E Fund Management (12), China’s largest fund manager and the third-largest in APAC, climbed from 21st to 12th. It was ranked in the top 10 in APAC for ‘Expert in what they do’ and ‘Innovation/Adaptation to market’.

A webinar is scheduled for March 27, 2024 at 2 PM GMT / 10 AM ET / 10 PM HKT to reveal the top asset management brands in each region. Registration is available to all at https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/4510770/F63F5F36B873DEE0FC7D364394198FBE 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.

These attributes are as follows:

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

About Broadridge

Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE: BR), a global Fintech leader with over $6 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 $10 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 https://www.broadridge.com/.