The story behind an investment fund or asset manager is taking an increasingly important place in the selection process. Performance and price will always matter, but there is more to it than that these days,’ said Chris Chancellor of Broadridge this week at the cross-border distribution conference of Financial Times, Deloitte and Elvinger Hoss.
‘The industry is shifting to a service model that’s all about branding and storytelling,’ he added. This includes communication around engagement. ‘Investors increasingly want to be able to measure what they are doing, to have an impact. They are becoming more aware of the tastes that are available, and are increasingly critical of the products they invest in.’
On ESG, He and researcher Shelly Antoniewicz of the Investment Company Institute expect the recent surge in flows to ESG-based strategies to continue. ‘Last year, 459 new sustainable ESG funds were launched in Europe. Those new funds alone welcomed €36 billion in 2020. The year before there were 360 new funds, with an inflow of €30 billion in their first year. So there is a lot of demand,’ said Antoniewicz.
Another category that fund managers want to allocate more money to in 2021 is thematic funds. Investors were already doing that in 2020, given that JP Morgan and Pictet are among the five fund houses with the largest inflows. ‘They owe a large part of their inflows to some of their thematic funds,’ Chancellor said.