EU-registered funds held in Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) and Child Trust Funds (CTFs) face the prospect of disqualification from these vehicles, unless they sign-up to the FCA’s Temporary Permissions Regime (TPR) by 30th October.
Luxembourg regulator issues Brexit reminders to UK investment firms
By Global Funds Registration Global Funds Registration, Brexit
UK fund providers will have until 15th September 2019 to submit a ‘Brexit licence’ to the Luxembourg regulator to continue trading in the jurisdiction.
The European MiFID Template (EMT) has been used to transfer target market and costs and charges data from fund groups to distributors since January 2018. Having gone through a few iterations during development, the original version has not changed since it came into use over 18 months ago.
The Joint Committee of the three European regulators responsible for PRIIPs has just updated its Q&As and includes a detailed answer on how to arrive at the Recommended Holding Period (RHP) of a PRIIP.
The FCA has recently published the findings from its review of MiFID II costs and charges disclosure. The review covered 50 firms and found different interpretations of the rules.
Now in its 11th year, the FE Alpha Manager rating is now firmly established and highly coveted in the fund management industry. Unlike fund ratings, which are based on various performance criteria of the fund, the FE Alpha Manager Ratings rate the performance of a fund manager over their entire career including all funds they have managed, and places worked and helps fund selectors to take a step back and remove short-term market movements or cyclical factors from their analysis.
Despite a lack of ability to do much at a local level about PRIIPs, the FCA issued a Call for Input (CfI) last year to ask for industry views on issues such as the scope of the PRIIPs Regulation and the calculation and presentation of risks, returns and costs on a KID. It deserves a muted round of applause for acknowledging the industry’s concerns and for publishing its Feedback Statement, FS19/1, responding to the huge number of responses it received to the CfI.
It is becoming more and more evident that the wealth and asset management industry is going through a digital transformation. Changing technology is making space for a new breed of digital competitors with innovative solutions aiming to disrupt the industry. Increasingly, clients are demanding and expecting online tools and mobile functionality to be part of their online user experience along with a seamless customer experience.
While much attention since MiFID II came into force a year ago has been on cost disclosure, the European regulator ESMA has published two consultation papers (CPs) on integrating sustainability risks and factors in MiFID II, tightening up on suitability of advice, and in UCITS and AIFMD, incorporating them in product governance.
Following its CP18/29 at the end of last year, the FCA has now opened its doors to firms and funds from Europe to register their intention to apply for full UK authorisation following Brexit.
2018 is drawing to a close so now is time to take a look back at the year gone by to see what facts and figures have emerged. In order for asset managers to better connect with advisers and understand their investment decisions, it’s crucial that we look at how advisers are behaving and why that may be.
We asked Rob Botha, Head of Data at FE, how FE helped the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) to boost transparency.
ESMA’s SMSG – its own panel of advisers, made up of industry participants, consumers and academics – has published its advice to ESMA on the proposals in the PRIIPs Consultation Paper, JC 2018 60, and it doesn’t pull any punches.
In the middle of the European Supervisory Authorities’ (ESAs) consultation on PRIIPs KIDs, there was cross-party agreement in the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) that the target date for UCITS to publish PRIIPs KIDs should be extended by two years, from December 2019 to 2021.
One of the few positive things that can be said about PRIIPs KIDs is that, unlike UCITS KIIDs, they don’t all need to be updated during the same short window at the start of every year. So PRIIPs providers can stagger their workload throughout the year, carrying out their annual reviews after their funds’ accounting dates, possibly.
Lehman Brothers collapsed a decade ago. It was a key milestone in the global financial crisis, teaching investors a painful lesson that nothing is too big to fail. A lot has happened since then and anybody you ask will tell you it’s been a tough decade all round, both on political and economic fronts. In addition to the global financial crisis, the period also witnessed the European debt crisis which has had a significant knock on effect for the countries in Europe. Political events such as the Brexit referendum in 2016 led to further uncertainty in the region.
The European Supervisory Authorities (the ESAs, made up of ESMA, EBA and EIOPA), have published a series of letters between them and the European Commission (EC), over the proposed ending of the exemption for UCITS KIIDs at the end of 2019.
We spoke to Mikkel to get all the necessary information on the DCPT - from what it entails to how fund groups are going about populating the template.
On 11 September, the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) published a report detailing the extent of misleading output, particularly in the risk and reward sections, of PRIIPs KIDs.
Risk has never been a bigger issue for financial advisers. Not only do today’s financial advisers need to correctly assess clients’ attitude to risk and map it across to suitable portfolios – they also need to become risk management experts and ensure regulatory compliance. This blog will look at the issues raised in FE’s latest annual adviser survey, ‘Adviser business models - What lies beneath?’ and how and why asset managers should take note of the situation advisers find themselves in and help advisers better understand the risks associated with their funds.
This year’s FE Adviser Survey (Adviser Business Models – what lies beneath) looked at how advisers are managing their investment processes, to discover areas for improvement and to highlight best practice. Here, we look at one part of that process specifically – investment choices and which sectors advisers have increased their exposure to.
Nobody denies the value of a short document with key information for investors before they commit to a fund or product. But criticism of the calculations used in PRIIPs KIDs has been pretty constant since even before they hit the streets in January and has hopefully reached a level that can’t be ignored by the European Commission or the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs).
First, we need to clarify that the IDD covers the distribution of two distinct types of insurance – non-life (general) insurance and Insurance-Based Investment Products (IBIPs).
Back in what now feels almost like pre-history, the European Working Group (EWG) came together to provide a standardised reporting template to deliver the data from asset managers to insurance companies for their Solvency II reporting and the Tri-Partite Template (TPT) was born.
Asset Management Market Study (AMMS) Policy Statement and further Consultation Paper and an Occasional Paper on fund charges disclosure
By Mikkel Bates
The FCA has had a busy time so far in April, with the publication of, among other things, Policy Statement PS18/8 on final AMMS remedies, Consultation Paper CP18/9 on further proposed AMMS remedies and Occasional Paper 32 on the disclosure of fund charges.
With the World Cup beginning last week, football fans will have been putting together their dream teams, made up of the top players participating in this year’s tournament. Inspired by this, FE’s research team has put together their dream team of funds based on the FE Invest Approved List. They’ve opted for an attacking 4-3-3 formation, consisting of a goalkeeper, four defenders, 3 midfielders and 3 attackers.
The world nowadays is divided into generations that have grown up in completely different circumstances and which therefore have very different outlooks on the world. The generation made up of those born between 1980 and 1995 have come to be known as millennials, and while older generations may look down on them and say how “things were better in my day”, its undeniable that millennials and their views are shaping the future. This blog will consider the influence of millennials on the asset management industry and how it should be adapting to meet their needs.
It has been a tough decade for Europe on both the political and economic fronts. The global financial crisis and European debt crisis had significant knock on effects for the countries in Europe and political events such as the Brexit vote in 2016 led to uncertainty in the area. However, Europe is starting to prosper again. Let’s take a look at how/why money has flowed towards Europe recently. We’ll look at the IA Europe Excluding UK sector and, in anticipation of the fast approaching FE Alpha Manager Awards, will look at a selection of FE Alpha Manager award nominees with exposure to Europe.
Client communication aspects of recent regulatory updates: What’s next and what we should keep an eye out for later this year
By Mikkel Bates
Just in…
Pre-sale Key Information Documents (KIDs) are now required for all Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (PRIIPs) that don’t publish UCITS KIIDs. Following heavy criticism about misleading performance scenarios, the FCA says firms can now produce “explanatory materials to put the calculation in context”. Advisers can also “consider how to address this, for example by providing additional explanation as part of their communications with clients” without diminishing or contradicting the content of the KID.
Mikkel Bates, FE regulatory correspondent discusses whether there could be any changes to the MiFID II regulation from a client communication perspective, post Brexit.
There has been some debate about the effectiveness and use of fund ratings; with a 2016 Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) review suggesting that perhaps too much emphasis is placed on them. However, the latest Schroders Adviser Survey in December 2017 demonstrated their importance with just over 70% of advisers surveyed using ratings or a ratings agency[1] as part of their fund selection process. Another study by Platforum in 2017 [2] showed that research agencies influence £210bn of advised fund assets held on platforms, 52% of the total adviser platform market AUA. So why are they such an integral part of fund selection and how can asset managers use them to differentiate their funds?
Over recent years, various pieces of European wide regulation impacting asset managers have come into force causing waves of change throughout the industry.
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Following the acquisition of GFR (Global Funds Registration) by FE earlier in 2017, we spoke to Martin Neason, Director at FE Global Funds Registration (GFR), to find out how he and his team work with their clients on a daily basis. We asked Martin about the challenges of cross-border funds’ registrations, Europe’s regulatory landscape , and the impact that Brexit may have on FE’s clients.
The day has now arrived and KIDs are required for sales of all PRIIPs to retail customers. Many of those involved to date may finally be exhaling after holding their breath for the last few months ahead of the deadline over the festive period.
But don’t think it’s all over just yet!
- 2018 Fund Watch list: Woodford Income, Jupiter Absolute Return and Allianz Strategic Bond
- 2017 takeaway: Don’t follow herd mentality
- House view on UK equities and corporate bonds more positive heading in to 2018
Now December is upon us, we are counting down to PRIIPs and MiFID II in days, rather than weeks or months.
Nine new questions are included in the latest version of the PRIIPs Q&As, published on 20 November, including a new section with a couple of questions on Multi-Option Products (MOPs).
As the name suggests, Absolute Return funds are meant to deliver positive returns in all market conditions. So, have they been meeting their objectives?
Having successfully delivered, after lengthy negotiations, the European MiFID Template (EMT) for the fund industry to provide the product data to populate customer reports under MiFID II, the European Working Group (EWG) has issued guidelines to help fund groups with the population of the EMT.
MiFID II and PRIIPs may have been “just around the corner” forever, but we are now in the last quarter before both come into force at the end of the year. And that three-month deadline may be creating a justified feeling of panic.
One of the biggest challenges a fund house faces in the modern day, apart from their investment strategy, is trying to ensure that their data is accurate, clean and reliable. Amongst others, challenges include meeting regulatory guidelines, reputation management and supporting the sales team.
It took just over six weeks for the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) to add 14 new questions to the 72 they answered in early July and they’ve supplemented this version with detailed flow charts of the decision process for the risk and reward calculations. With around four months to go, we expect the pace of updates either to speed up because answers are needed urgently or to dry up completely if everyone is confident they have everything they need. Does anyone believe there are no outstanding questions?
With MiFID II kicking off in January 2018, the European Working Group of asset managers and trade bodies has been putting in a huge effort to produce a standard template to deliver their target market and costs & charges data to distributors.
In February this year, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) issued draft technical advice on EOS PRIIPs, along with a consultation paper (CP) on their proposals. On the back of responses to that CP, they have now submitted their Joint Technical Advice to the European Commission.
Further to our blog last month, the FCA has now published its updated policy statement on MiFID II implementation.
Earlier this week, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published their much-anticipated Q&As on various aspects of the PRIIPs KID and the Commission also issued its draft guidelines on PRIIPs.
The European Working Group (EWG) met last month and has issued an updated European MiFID Template (EMT), which aims to standardise the data to be provided by fund groups to platforms and advisers to help them deliver their client reports under MiFID II.
With over 3,000 adviser firms using FE Analytics to streamline their investment process, we used the FE Analytics Market Intelligence (MI) tool to see which funds have been most researched by advisers in quarter 1 this year, and how that compared to last year.
The investment industry across Europe is preparing for the introduction of two major pieces of legislation, PRIIPs and MiFID II, at the start of 2018.
Further to consultation paper CP16/18 last year, the FCA has now issued policy statement PS17/6.
The latest version of the PRIIPs Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) were published last month. You would think that, with the amount of thought and debate that have gone into PRIIPs since 2014, the RTS would cover every situation and to have a clear rule for each. But, sadly, that isn’t the case.
In a move that was widely anticipated – but not quite so soon – the European Parliament officially raised no objections to the revised PRIIPs Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) and approved them on 30 March. This follows the decision by the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) to give the RTS the all-clear two days earlier.
After many weeks of complete silence, the European Commission published its (presumably) final version of the PRIIPs Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on 8 March, almost meeting its selfimposed deadline of adopting them by the end of February.
You will be hard-pressed to find someone working in the asset management industry today who is not aware, on some level, that the implementation date for the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) is less than a year away (3 January 2018). Despite the year long delay last October, time is truly of the essence as the European Parliament requires the directive to be transposed into national legislation by member states as soon as 3 July 2017.
There has been a big churn of talent in the 2017 FE Alpha Managers rebalance with the emergence of 56 new Alpha Managers and a cull of 38 managers that previously held the highly coveted status.
Multi-asset funds have seen significant growth of late, with figures from the Investment Association (IA) showing that multi-asset fund sales reached £2.6 billion in 2016.
FE’s latest bi-annual Crown Ratings rebalance awarded 300 funds with the highly prized five FE Crowns - with 18 previously unrated funds being awarded the top accolade.
When Richard Philbin, Chief Investment Officer at Wellian Investment Solutions, sought a flexible, automated approach to building his team’s sophisticated fund research reports he adopted FE’s FinXL, an excel add-in that pulls data from FE’s database, to support his use of FE Analytics. FE Analytics is an investment research platform used by over third of the UK’s top advisers. Having used the products together for a number of years, Wellian are reliant on the software for their fund research.
Recent research on the most bought funds in 2016 showed that Fundsmith and Woodford Equity funds featured first and second on the list - whilst Vanguard's passive vehicles also bagged top spots.
A new report from Deloitte, ‘Survival of the Fittest: Defining Future Leaders in Asset Management’ has outlined five bold changes asset management groups will need to make in order to remain competitive.
On the 18 November the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published the Interim Report to its Asset Management Market Study, noting several areas for further focus. The overall study aims to assess how competition in the market is working and to what extent investors are getting value for money, and is set to be published in February 2017.
FE Managing Director Michael Holland writes open letter to ESA chairmen over proposed RTS changes
By Corporate
Michael Holland, Managing Director of FE, has today sent an open letter to the chairmen of the three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) and to several investment trade publications.
At least one prediction has been right today, as the European Commission’s Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis confirmed it has recommended a delay of 12 months to December 2017 for PRIIPs KIDs at its meeting on 9 November. This means that PRIIPs will go live at the same time as MiFID II, which was itself delayed by a year.
Following the success of our recent EPT breakfast briefing, which saw industry leaders come together and share their expertise on the upcoming requirements under the PRIIPs regulation, we thought we would share a quick video detailing how we can help you with your EPT needs.
The latest provisional agenda for the European Commission, issued on 24 October, shows that the discussion on a possible delay to the PRIIPs regulation has been brought forward from 22 November to 9 November.
We bring you up to date with some of the most pressing regulatory issues facing asset managers right now.
At a panel discussion hosted by the Greens and the European Free Alliance at the European Parliament yesterday (19 October), Ugo Bassi of DG FISMA, the Financial Services directorate of the European Commission, was questioned on the timetable for PRIIPs, as the uncertainty is causing big problems and adding to costs across the industry.
What is the aim of PRIIPs KIDs? Where are we now with the regulation? What are the pros and cons of each scenario?
First published in Investment Week, 30 September 2016
With the majority of selectors recommending the same 20% of funds, FE's Mika-John Southworth explores why 'big brand' funds continue to be favoured despite performance issues.
Since the rejection of the regulatory technical standards (RTS) by the European Parliament on 14th September, it is felt that the launch of PRIIPs KIDs could head in one of the three possible directions...
Having previously ignored all pleas for a delay to the launch of PRIIPs, the European Parliament threw the issue wide open on 14 September when MEPs voted 602-4 to reject the Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) submitted by the European Commission.
The UK’s £6.6 trillion UK asset management industry is indeed one of the most competitive. The traditional fund market is saturated to an extent by countless products overlapping with regards to both asset class and style. Furthermore, the rise of one-stop-shop multi-asset solutions and model portfolios has left traditional funds looking less attractive to advisers looking to diversify clients’ assets.
FE Analytics has won the award for the ‘Leading Independent Planning Tool Provider’ at the Schroders’ UK Platform Awards – marking this the sixth time the planning tool has won the award since 2010.
On 14 September the European Parliament, as expected, followed the lead of its Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (Econ) by voting 602 to 4 to reject the Level 2 rules as set out in the Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) proposed by the Commission.
North American growth funds have been added for the first time to the FE Invest Approved list, as funds in the region are viewed more favourably for UK investors in light of concerns over UK equities as an asset class - following the Brexit vote.
In light of the recent vote by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to reject the Level 2 rules in the regulatory technical standards (RTS), we examine what this might mean for their impending implementation.
FE has been supporting the financial advice sector for over 20 years. In our first in-depth research report of the financial advisory industry we look at how Advisers business models are changing and how they are researching and evaluating funds and Asset Managers. The financial advisory community is a broad and diverse one, with no set model for making fund selections that could be described as typical so how do the Asset Management community engage with Advisers to better understand their businesses.
While the benefits of social media were not immediately recognised by asset managers, and indeed the financial services industry more broadly, it’s acknowledged now by most firms that social media provides a platform on which companies can build their brand and connect with their target audience.
FE Kii Hub has been awarded the accolade of Most Outstanding European UCITS KIIDs Platform in the Corporate LiveWire Global Fund Awards 2016.
Following an intriguing article in the Financial Times recently, which suggested that passive fund fees could fall to 0 per cent in a bid by fund groups to increase their market share, it’s fair to say that the race is definitively on for active managers.
Delving more deeply into the details of the latest PRIIPs KIDs regulatory technical standards (RTS) shows that there are, after all, some important differences from the previously published version.
FE’s latest bi-annual Crown ratings rebalance awarded 325 funds with the highly prized five FE Crowns – with 45 funds jumping more than two Crowns to achieve the top accolade.
FE would like to congratulate all the winners of the Fund Manager of the Year Awards 2016. FE's Gary Wheeler and Mika-John Southworth presented the Global Group and UK Income awards to Fidelity International and Evenlode Income on the night (pictured below).
Looking to gain more effective control and management of the Group’s fund data to support its vision for the business over the next decade, this mid-sized asset management company selected FE Precision+ Dissemination to deliver the single, ‘golden’ source needed to ensure accuracy, consistency and timeliness in the data being published about its funds, across all channels - and in the information provided directly to customers and independent financial advisers.
Hong Kong-based China and Emerging Markets specialist, Luke NG from FE Research runs through the key issues surrounding MSCI’s rejection of China’s A-Share market.
Advisers have been opting for the perceived safety of cash funds over big-name brands in the weeks leading up to the EU referendum date, according to the latest data from FE’s Market Intel (MI) tool - underlining the risk-off sentiment gripping the UK’s advisory industry compared to the mood at the start of the year.
First they said it couldn’t possibly happen, then that it probably wouldn’t happen, then that it might happen and until finally today it did happen. Yesterday Britain voted to leave the European Union and although the vote is not binding it seems inconceivable that it won’t be followed through.
When Chris Walklate, product and proposition manager for Wesleyan, revamped the company’s online fund centre, he was looking for something high impact that would showcase Wesleyan’s funds and ‘bring the data to life’ for Wesleyan’s customers. He selected FE’s Precision+ Digital as the means to achieve this – and while the new fund centre has only been live for a matter of weeks, it has already been very well received.
In line with the first anniversary of FE Passive Crown ratings, the ratings and research firm has launched the industry’s first pure passive fund awards. This is in recognition of the growing importance that passive investing plays in the UK asset management industry and the commitment and professionalism of passive investing teams (Please see below for full list of 2016 winners).
The cost of active funds is rarely out of the headlines, and it’s fair to say that the publicity has been far from positive. The latest survey of FE Trustnet readers exposes just how strongly professional investors feel about the price of their fund.
First published in FT Adviser blog, 23rd May.
First published in FT Adviser, 25 April 2016.
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Let’s shake things up – how about I tell you that the age-old theory that risk rewards the brave is all nonsense?
As part of the Alpha Manager of the Year Awards 2016 the FE team produced a music video to set the scene and kick off the evening. The critically acclaimed video is now available for all to see. Watch it in full below, and please share or leave your feedback #fealphas16
Leading up to the much-anticipated FE Alpha Manager Awards on 14th April 2016, we asked managers featuring in our FE Alpha Manager Awards shortlist three key questions which not only sum up the past few months – but also, if magic was real, what they would conjure up if they had a magic wand!
Leading up to the much anticipated FE Alpha Manager Awards on 14th April, we asked managers featuring in our FE Alpha Manager Awards shortlist three key questions which not only sum up the past few months – but also, if magic was real, what they would conjure up if they had a magic wand!
Forty-five managers have made it into the 2016 FE Hall of Fame, meaning they have been rated as FE Alpha Managers for at least seven years, with 28 managing to achieve the highly coveted FE Alpha Manager rating eight years in a row – since the rating launched in 2009.
Volatility is here to stay as FE repositions its successful model portfolio service, FE Invest – after a turbulent six months. The head of FE Research, Rob Gleeson underlines the rapid deterioration in market conditions as the catalyst for taking some risk off the table and allocating to broader market strategies, rather than highly focused funds in the current volatile market conditions.
It has been a tempestuous year for markets. Since last April, when the FTSE broke the psychologically important 7,000 barrier, the slowdown in China, speculation over the pending interest rate rise and August’s pivotal Black Monday sell off, have coalesced to create a challenging environment for fund selectors and portfolio managers looking to protect and grow their client’s investments. It is therefore unsurprising that multi-asset and absolute return funds have seen such a surge in interest.
Invesco Perpetual Income and Monthly Income Plus and Jupiter Merlin Income Portfolio were some of the largest funds falling out of favour with FE’s in-house analysts in the latest review of the FE Invest Approved fund list and the FE Invest MPS (model portfolio service).
The recent decision by the European Commission to delay the implementation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) until January 2018 has been welcomed with open arms.
Seventy-nine managers have made it onto the shortlist for this year’s FE Alpha Manager of the Year Awards, with Barry Norris, Rupert Flemming, Julian Fosh, Anthony Cross and Anthony Robertson leading the list of the industry’s top talent.
FE Kii Hub are to launch a new service to address the new PRIIPs Regulation that is to be submitted to the European Commision on 31st March 2016. Ultimately this means that the way PRIIPs Key Information Documents are produced will need to adhere to the new rules set out in the Regulation by the end of 2016.
Henderson Global Investors and Fidelity Investments have triumphed in this year’s FE Alpha Manager ratings rebalance, with the two groups each boasting ten managers who have been awarded the highly coveted Alpha Manager status.
How can a game of Chinese whispers be compared to asset management? Most people are familiar with the game. You start by whispering a sentence to the person next to you, this person then repeats what they heard to the next player, and on and on it goes until the very last person.
FE runs through what all that you need to know on Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (2014/65/EU) (“MiFID II”).
A Trustnet Magazine story was awarded the ‘Investment Article of the Year’ prize at this year’s unbiased.co.uk’s Media Awards.
As fund supermarkets, also known as fund platforms, continue to be a popular way of buying funds for many investors and financial professionals – it’s important for asset managers to remember there's more to a platform than price alone.
Big changes in ratings and research firm FE’s latest Crown ratings rebalance as the market turmoil of the last two quarters of 2015 take effect on big name funds.
Infographics have been having a bit of a moment in the fund marketing world.
Although the economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have been heralded as a good move for investors looking to gain from rapid economic development – the BRICS economies have come under fire recently after high levels of volatility and a failure to deliver on the good returns predicted of them.
Active Share has been causing quite a stir in the industry over the past year and while some managers have quite readily employed it as a marketing tool on their factsheets, the increasingly wide use of Active Share as a marker for a manager’s ‘activeness’ has been contentious. As the measure’s popularity continues to grow, FE Research looks at just how useful it is.
M&G, Threadneedle, F&C and Freehold have made the cut in independent ratings and research company, FE’s first ever property list to sit within its FE Invest Approved List (formerly the Select 100 list).
A good website with a clear message is perhaps a marketer’s most powerful tool in today’s tech age.
In order to facilitate lead generation, promote products, raise brand awareness and offer an all-round, high-quality experience for your clients – a website that portrays and adequately attests to your message is a must.
Creating and distributing digital content that gets high levels of client engagement is a goal, and a challenge, for many asset managers. With an increasing number of firms turning to online channels to get their content out there, the digital landscape is swimming with content and fierce competition. In fact, research shows that 350k new tweets are posted every minute.
Regulation, regulation, regulation. It can sometimes feel like we in the financial services are inundated by changes to regulation. But as increasing numbers of asset managers choose to communicate with clients and prospects via blogs, LinkedIn and Twitter, it is important that this industry keeps a keen eye on what is expected off of them in regards to the regulation around social media.
Finding ‘the One’ is life-changing. Very few can argue with that. The One gets where you’re coming from, understands your needs and will support you in reaching your full potential.
There has been a lot of talk recently about the importance of branding in the asset management industry - with recent research from Brand Finance claiming that brand strength and assets under management (AUM) go hand-in-hand - there has never been a better time to focus on building your firm’s brand.
Using the FE’s unique Analytics Market Intel (MI) tool, we take a look at the top 10 funds advisers were buying and selling in October.
Old Mutual’s WealthSelect MPS range is now live on FE Transmission, the service that allows financial advisers access to performance data on leading model portfolio providers through FE Analytics.
Bloggers, and the world of blogging, have had quite an image change over the past few years.
No longer the domain of hobbyists and those with an (angry) opinion, it has certainly become more mainstream. But with the activity becoming so widespread, how do asset management firms - who are fast seeing the need for a joined-up social media strategy – make the most out of their blogs?
In a series looking at how asset managers can best use social media to help promote their brand – we focus on LinkedIn and the most effective strategies to use this rather more ‘professional’ site.
All asset managers – be they large or small – find the process of collecting, validating, formatting and distributing data a time-consuming task. And unlike some other industries, in the asset management world, the consequences of dirty data can be acutely felt.
One of the biggest challenges for marketers working in the asset management industry is how to take raw data and distribute it in an accurate and attractive way. Not only should data be presented in a clear, simple and precise style, but the story the data tells should also be accessible for a range of audiences if you really want to grow your assets under management (AUM).
Just thirteen ethical funds from the ethical and socially responsible investment universe made the cut in the inaugural recommended ethical funds list from ratings, research and investment data specialists FE Trustnet. Henderson Global Investors bags three spots for its sustainable range.
It’s no secret that the fund management industry has been subject to scrutiny around how transparent it is - with this focus amplified by rule changes surrounding charges brought on by the Financial Conduct Authority. This has, however, had the beneficial effect of increasing industry best practises – but more needs to be done to ensure that the end-investor is sufficiently informed.
If knowledge is power, then in our modern technological times, data is surely king. Everywhere we look, we see marketeers and retailers alike harnessing the power of data to understand the consumer.
FE’s new service addresses the on-going need for clean data in the asset management industry to bring forth greater transparency to ultimately support the end-investor.