Broadridge Financial Solutions on 25 March released the results of its annual “2025 Fund Brand 50 report,” which looks at the “best performing brands in European asset management.” In the Belux rankings, “Blackrock retains pole position, while JP Morgan moves up one rung into second place. Pictet places third, while Amundi and Robeco make up the remaining top quintet. Highfliers Comgest and M&G Investments break into the Belux top 10, climbing 10 rungs and five rungs, respectively,” Barbara Wall, director, EMEA insights at Broadridge told Paperjam.
“In Broadridge interviews with fund selectors, Comgest was rated for its strong growth bias, European focus, consistent results and structured process. Meanwhile, M&G was lauded for the clarity of its reporting and excellent presentations, amongst other attributes,” Wall added.
ESG backlash
When it comes to the top European asset managers, Blackrock remains in the top slot. Second-placed JP Morgan, however, is gaining ground, noted Broadridge.
“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,’” said Broadridge. “With ESG increasingly out of vogue, several firms strongly associated with sustainability and social responsibility were negatively impacted, most notably Robeco and Nordea.”
Equity ETF providers saw their best year yet, added Broadridge, with top 10 ranking featuring several passive fund specialists.
The Broadridge fund brand report, released every year, monitors the influence of brand on third-party fund selection. The study is based on interviews in Europe, APAC and the US with more than 1,200 fund selectors and decision-makers who choose which funds and groups are added to a distributor’s buy list. They are asked to name their top suppliers according to attributes such as appealing investment strategy, client-oriented thinking, innovation/adaption to market, social responsibility/sustainability, local knowledge and more. Responses are collated and turned into a “total brand score,” which is then used to produce the rankings.