A global study launched today highlights several areas of weakness in the websites and social media presences of 20 leading fund and asset managers.

Fund managers targeting advisors and other institutional investors must up their digital game as challenges such as demographic changes and mounting pressure around pricing intensify, a global report says.

MyPrivateBanking Research analysed the digital presences of 20 fund and asset managers globally for its latest study, entitled Fund Managers’ Digital Presence for Institutionals and Advisors. Overall, the Swiss firm looked at 75 websites and 25 social media presences that offer information specifically for institutional investors, financial intermediaries and advisors.

“The majority of websites targeted at institutional and intermediary clients are no more than rudimentary hubs for delivering disorganised information to their users,” said Rosalia Engchuan, an analyst at MyPrivateBanking Research. “When looking at mobile strategies, the gap is even larger, as most fund managers’ mobile capabilities are non-existent or very limited, leaving the fund management industry far behind other industries.”

The top 20 candidates scored, on average, 68 per cent of the maximum achievable points. Their main weaknesses include that only eight offer “truly sophisticated tools to support advisors and intermediaries,” while only half use “client-centric communication,” MyPrivateBanking said.

Other problem areas include that many still do not offer any interactive or automated tools to support institutional clients in their financial decision-making, or intermediaries in their client relationships, with the average score here at just 52 per cent. Meanwhile, only nine offer a mobile app targeted at institutional investors or intermediaries.

With the above said, MyPrivateBanking found it “somewhat reassuring that a few leading institutions already have satisfactory or even good digital touch points.” Invesco was crowned the overall winner here, with 93 points out of a maximum of 110, followed by Vanguard Asset Management with 90 points and Fidelity with 85 points. BlackRock took fourth place, with 84 points, while Allianz Global Investors grabbed the fifth spot, with 83 points.

Challenges, recommendations

There are a number of challenging forces impacting the fund industry, MyPrivateBanking said, the main ones being new competitors, rising pressure around pricing, demographic changes and regulatory demands.

“New players such as the so-called robo-advisors and other fintech companies pose a significant threat to established fund institutions and are eager to exploit these established institutions’ digital shortcomings, as we have identified manifold in our research,” Engchuan added. “These new competitors have the advantage of being digitally native players with a strong technology DNA that enables them to acquire and serve customers faster and better in the ever more important digital marketplace.”

Based on its findings, MyPrivateBanking made a number of recommendations. Firstly, fund mangers need to offer a seamless user journey to every website visitor, the firm said. It added that in times of information overflow, content “has to stand out” as “only relevant and targeted content that is easily accessible will help the brand.” Fund managers should also work on an omni-presence strategy, as well as tap into the social media space. “Having a desktop website is no longer enough—mobile responsiveness is a must and mobile apps are also expected by clients and prospects,” MyPrivateBanking said.

Wealth management focus

Asked by this publication for the key takeaways of the report's findings for wealth managers, Engchuan said:

“As we have seen in our other reports, the wealth management industry is usually more advanced when it comes to the integration of digital into their businesses. Mostly, because the wealth management industry is end client-facing and therefore has more pressure to meet higher expectations. In their business relationships with fund managers, wealth managers will benefit from a move forward in this sector as it will allow them to improve internal processes and their overall value proposition to clients.

“Wealth managers for example need to present and explain investment proposals and decisions to their clients. A digitally-advanced asset manager will support this process by offering end-client-ready materials that can be used in conversations with the client. Ideally, the wealth manager will have access to a mobile app that can be used in meetings with clients to go through different investment scenarios. Interactive tools offered by the fund manager will move conversations between client and wealth manager from paper-based fund information that is mostly numbers to interactive, visual and automated financial planning, where different future scenarios can be taken into consideration and compared. If fund managers provide the technology and tools to enable wealth managers to do better in their client relationships, this will make the job of wealth managers easier.

“There is still a lot of room for improvements for fund and asset managers and in the end the wealth management sector will benefit from a better service proposition of fund and asset managers. So one implication of the report is that wealth managers should demand this kind of digital services and technological integration from fund and asset managers.”

The total fund managers analysed were: Allianz Global Investors; Amundi; Axa Investment Managers; BlackRock; BNP Paribas Investment Partners; BNY Mellon; Capital Group; Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management; Fidelity; Franklin Templeton; Goldman Sachs; Invesco; JP Morgan; Legal & General; Natixis; PIMCO; State Street Global Advisors; TIAA; UBS; and Vanguard.