Consultants become a less important information source for UK institutional investors

Colleagues/peers and asset managers are now more important sources, research by Fundamental Media has found

Key points:

• In 2019, investment consultants were the main source of information for institutional investors, but in 2024 they came in third, behind colleagues/peers and asset managers.
• Asset managers’ communication support is appreciated across a variety of areas and topics, with information on market trends, investment strategies and ESG being the most mentioned.
• Over half of respondents still read print media and these are mostly received at the office. However, 48% of UK institutional investors do not read any print publication.

Institutional investors in the UK rely increasingly less on consultants as an information source about investment strategies and managers, research by Fundamental Media has revealed.

In 2019, investment consultants were the main source of information for institutional investors, but in 2024 they came in third, behind colleagues/peers and asset managers. The use of consultants has also decreased, with 67% of respondents using them in 2024 compared to 90% in 2019.

From May to August 2024, we surveyed 86 institutional investors in the UK about their investment views, satisfaction with asset managers and media consumption. The UK report is part of our institutional investors research, which also includes reports on Germany, the US, Switzerland, France and the Netherlands.

UK institutional investors heavily rely on asset managers as a key source of information, and managers’ communication support is appreciated across a variety of areas and topics, with information on market trends, investment strategies and ESG being the most mentioned.

Tailoring communications to the specific needs and preferences of individual institutional clients is crucial, along with concise and clear communications. Asset managers should avoid lengthy emails and theoretical content, but instead focus on delivering relevant information with clear headlines, summaries and new pieces of research that others don’t provide, our research found.

Media consumption

Over half of respondents still read print media and these are mostly received at the office. However, 48% of UK institutional investors do not read any print publication.

Podcasts are also not very popular, with 49% not listening to them for business purposes and only a quarter listening to them on a weekly basis. On the other hand, 65% of respondents read newsletters at least weekly.

When it comes to media consumption, most readership is online via desktop. Financial newspapers and pension trade titles are among the most read.LinkedIn is by far the most used social media platform for business purposes, especially to read and watch content from asset managers.

Other findings from the 2024 UK institutional investors survey include:

• ESG considerations are increasingly important and investments in this direction are likely to keep increasing. Clients’ needs also play a crucial role for institutional investors’ advisers.
• When it comes to asset classes, institutional investors anticipate an increase in global equities, fixed income and alternative investments, while real estate and North American equities are more likely to decrease.
• Along ESG, passive investments and LDI are the most likely investment strategies to see an increase. Active management is on the rise compared to 2019, while the use of ETFs remains low with only 30% of respondents using them.

• When selecting asset managers, institutional investors look at a variety of factors, but their importance differs between the first stage (discarding unsuitable managers from the long list) and the second stage (picking the winner).