Thirty-nine percent of financial advisers view American Funds as the leading provider of domestic large-cap mutual funds and 31% perceive the company as the dominant provider of value funds, but for other asset classes, there is no clear leader, Cogent Research found in a survey of 1,400 advisers.
The closest competitor to American Funds in these categories is BlackRock, which is named as the go-to provider of large-cap funds by 7% of advisers and of value funds by 5%.
Even among registered investment advisers, American Funds is perceived as a leader. However, Vanguard, Fidelity and Dimensional Fund Advisors also rate high.
In the mid-cap and small-cap asset classes, a much broader set of competitors begins to emerge, Cogent said. Across all six style boxes comprised of small- and mid-cap categories, Fidelity and Franklin Templeton are just a few points behind American Funds as the go-to providers. In addition, Franklin Templeton shows particular strength among regional and bank channel advisers.
“There’s obviously a lot more competition for both mindshare and shelf space in asset classes outside of the large-cap arena,” said Tony Ferreira, managing director of Cogent’s wealth management practice. “There are at least a half dozen fund companies that are in the hunt within the mid- and small-cap space.”
Among regionals, The Hartford and Lord Abbett rate high, Ferreira said. For international equity funds, American Funds and Franklin Templeton were cited most frequently, by 25% and 17%, respectively, he added. But beyond these two providers, there are at least 30 contenders in the international equity space, each with their own small piece of the pie.
