The Leading Global Asset Manager Brands

An asset manager segmentation framework to explain competitive dynamics

Part of NMG’s Leading Global Asset Manager Brands Insights Report. Download the full report here.

We have noted that few international asset manager brands are recognised across geographies and products. We also observe differences amongst local managers: some are large institutions with distribution advantage while others are specialist boutiques. Overall we classify four types of asset manager based primarily on international scope, product breadth and level of independence:

Global: asset managers with genuinely global franchises supported by top 10 positions in a large number of retail and institutional markets. These firms are strong across products (typically at least two of equities, fixed income and multi-asset) and include Blackrock, PIMCO, JP Morgan AM, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton and Schroders only.

Aspiring Global: asset managers with meaningful franchises across channels and several markets. While these managers may have related financial services divisions (for example a private banking division) internal distribution is not the key driver of success. Examples include T. Rowe Price, Pioneer, MFS, Aberdeen, Standard Life Investments and Pictet.

Domestic Champion: asset managers with strength primarily in a single home market driven by the brand and distribution power of a related financial services group. For example, we have classified Nomura, Legal & General IM and Colonial First State as domestic champions.

Boutique: independent asset managers whose positioning is primarily driven by strength in a single geography or product category. These asset managers typically have one lead product and examples include Carmignac, Woodford and Perpetual.

Figure 6 shows the relative share of each competitor type within the top 10 brands by market and segment. The retail analysis highlights the role of domestic champions in Germany and Switzerland and domestic boutiques in France, Canada and Australia. The institutional analysis is generally more favourable for global and aspiring global brands particularly in the US, Italy, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Click here to view the Top 50 Global Asset Manager Brands.