German intermediaries prefer qualitative asset managers

Local managers have a good reputation among intermediaries in Germany, research by Fundamental Media finds

Key findings:

• German intermediaries are more likely to buy funds from asset managers they perceive to be ‘qualitative’ rather than ‘quantitative’.
• Intermediaries’ belief in an asset manager’s ability to generate returns (perceived quality) is the main consideration when buying a fund.
• A few local brands have a strong position in the German market and rank high in the Brand Equity Index, but besides those the majority of the top ten brands are global asset managers.

Financial intermediaries in Germany are more likely to buy funds from asset managers they perceive to be ‘qualitative’ rather than ‘quantitative’, according to research by Fundamental Media.

This is one of the key findings from the Germany Global Brand Survey 2024, which is based on the responses from 175 financial intermediaries in Germany. To understand their perception of asset managers’ brands, we have developed a Brand Equity Index using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods across five pillars: recall, familiarity, perceived quality, propensity to buy and distinctiveness.

The propensity to buy score assesses the likelihood to increase the use of funds provided by that particular asset manager. When correlating this score with those from the other four brand factors, we see that German financial intermediaries’ belief in an asset manager’s ability to generate returns (perceived quality) is the main consideration when buying a fund. This has been a consistent trend since 2017. Perceived quality has the strongest correlation to propensity to buy, followed by brand recall at a sizeable distance. 

Brand distinctiveness is correlated to familiarity but can be linked to both positive and negative associations with brands, explaining the weak correlation to propensity to buy. However, when looking at single components of the distinctiveness score, some values will be more likely to drive propensity to buy than others.

The score for distinctiveness as a brand factor took into consideration scores for 14 brand values. They have become less prominent compared to 2021, with three sets of values having correlations between 0.2 and 0.4. However, even then, when looking at how these brand values affect the propensity to buy, German intermediaries have a preference for asset managers they perceive as qualitative rather than quantitative.

Qualitative analysis of comments on different asset managers revealed that German financial intermediaries provided more positive comments for those asset management firms that scored high on the brand values ‘careful thinking’, ‘qualitative’ and ‘intuitive’ rather than those perceived as ‘energetic’, ‘quantitative’ and ‘analytical’, with most of the other value sets receiving a similar number of positive and negative comments.

A few local brands have a strong position in the German market and rank high in the Brand Equity Index, but besides those the majority of the top ten brands are global asset managers. Local managers do particularly well in the brand recall for German equities, multi-asset, real estate, alternatives, active management, absolute return and ESG.

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