Reflecting the turmoil in the financial services industry, most investors are more attuned to whether a company is viable than whether its offerings have strong performance, according to the 2009 Investor Brandscape report from
Today, perceptions of the financial stability of a mutual fund company and its breadth of offerings are now the primary driver of investor loyalty, according to the report.
Antonio Ferreira, managing director of the wealth management group at Cogent, said, Everyone understands investors want and expect to see strong investment performance. Thats a given. But in a broad market decline and in such uncertain times, investors are obviously looking for a safe harbor.They want assurance that companies they invest with today will still be there tomorrow.
Cogent also rates mutual fund companies by investors assessment of them, and found an 84-point spread, with
Its rather stunning to see that nine out of 10 fund companies have more customers at risk of defecting than remaining loyal, Ferreira said. In times like these, where positive investment performance is difficult, firms must provide or promote other offerings that address the existing mood of the marketthus, smaller or boutique firms with limited options will have a tough time maintaining loyalty due to lack of product or service breadth.
The top performers are Vanguard, Fidelity Advisor Funds and
Mutual Fund Company Investor Loyalty Rankings
Stars
1. Vanguard Group
2. Fidelity Advisor Funds
3. Fidelity Investments
Leaders
4. T. Rowe Price
5. American Funds
6. Franklin Templeton Funds
7. Schwab/Laudus Funds
8. Dodge & Cox Funds
9. RiverSource (formerly American Express Funds)
10. ING Funds
11. Morgan Stanley Investment Advisors Funds
12. JPMorgan Funds
13. Davis Funds
14. American Century Funds
15. Principal Financial
16. Wells Fargo Funds
17. Lord Abbett Funds
18. Janus Funds
19. Columbia Management Funds
Players
20. Evergreen Investments
21. Dreyfus Funds
22. Oakmark Funds
23. PIMCO Funds
24. OppenheimerFunds
25. AllianceBernstein Funds
26. John Hancock Funds
27. The Hartford
28. Van Kampen
29. Legg Mason Funds
30. Neuberger Berman
Drifters
31. BlackRock Funds
32. Goldman Sachs Funds
33. Eaton Vance Funds
34. Invesco Aim Funds
35. Putnam Investments
36. MFS Investment Management
37. DWS Investments (formerly DWS Scudder Funds)
38. Calamos Funds