Top three attributes U.S. fund selectors value in partnering with asset managers: ‘Solidity’, ‘Client-oriented thinking’, and ‘Appealing investment strategy’

NEW YORK, March 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The latest edition of Broadridge’s Fund Brand 50 (FB50), an annual research study by global Fintech leader Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR), was released today, highlighting the world’s best-performing third-party asset management brands. BlackRock retains first place for a second successive year; however its lead was cut and this year saw the further ascendance of relatively recent entrants into the broader FB50 list. BlackRock’s prominence is not merely a reflection of scale but also of its sophisticated alignment between product innovation and brand trust that continues to resonate with professional fund buyers.

“While solidity and client-oriented thinking are still high priorities, our inquiries into brand perception uncovered that fund gatekeepers—such as wealth management ‘home office’ teams and investment committees—also strongly prioritize investment team stability,” said Jeff Tjornehoj, Broadridge’s US Senior Director of Fund Insights. “In their eyes, it serves as a proxy for the repeatability of performance and the mitigation of transition risk.”

Fund Brand 50 is powered by insights from Broadridge’s Global Fund Buyer Focus Intelligence — a comprehensive, continuously updated intelligence and analytics dataset capturing fund selector preferences, behaviors, and market trends across global markets. FB50 measures and ranks asset managers’ relative brand attractiveness based on fund selector perceptions: considering 10 brand attributes to reveal the top U.S. and global brands. Broadridge also issues FB50 reports on brand leaders in Europe and APAC. This is the latest study from Broadridge’s Data and Analytics business and highlights the depth and breadth of the firm’s global market insights.

Top-10 U.S. Asset Management Brands

Rank	Fund Group	Change
1	BlackRock	0
2	Capital Group	+1
3	Vanguard	-1
4	JPMorgan AM	0
5	Fidelity	0
6	PIMCO	+1
7	First Trust	+1
8	Franklin Templeton	0
9	T. Rowe Price	+1
10	Goldman Sachs	+1

Key insights

Capital Group had an impressive run up the league table to finish in second place. Vanguard dropped to third and JPMorgan and Fidelity rounded out the top-five spots. Professional buyers often prioritize Capital Group as a ‘safe harbor’ associating the brand with long-term reliability and a client-centric partnership model.
Reflecting on the report from one year ago, it is worth noting that steady performance and lower volatility had primed fund selectors to explore new institutional engagements. This trend intensified in 2025, as reflected by modest shifts among the top-10 brands.
PIMCO took advantage of swapping places with First Trust for sixth and seventh, respectively. Franklin held fast to eighth place for the fourth consecutive year, while T. Rowe Price made steady progress from tenth to ninth, and Goldman Sachs proved its fall outside the top 10 last year was short-lived as it finished in tenth place this year.

Valued attributes

‘Solidity’, ‘Client-oriented thinking’, and ‘Appealing investment strategy’ took the top-three spots in the rankings once again this year. U.S. selectors favor large, global brands with a wide and varied product offering, and the security of a well-established name.
‘Appealing investment strategy’ remains a ‘magnet’ for new capital. Investors prioritize managers who demonstrate a repeatable process for generating risk-adjusted returns and once again, BlackRock continues to set the pace.
The top-four brand attributes remained unchanged in 2025, while ‘Stability of investment management team’ moved from seventh place last year to complete the top five in fifth place in 2025, knocking ‘Understanding of the markets in which they operate’ out of the top five to place seventh. ‘Social responsibility/sustainability’ once again placed 10th.

Additional findings from this year’s study include:

Capital Group is predominantly perceived as the gold standard of institutional stability, anchored by its signature ‘Capital System’ of multi-manager oversight. By eschewing the ‘star manager’ model in favor of a collaborative investment process, the firm signals a repeatable, high-conviction approach to active management that outlasts individual tenures.
In a ‘sea of sameness’ where many firms offer similar investment strategies, a strong brand acts as the primary differentiator. In summary, a truly effective brand transcends logos and slogans; it is the embodiment of an identity that builds trust, drives loyalty, and provides the strategic foundation for future expansion.
For product managers, 2025 was a watershed year for the evolution of investment vehicles. The industry witnessed an explosive surge in active ETF development, with nearly 1,000 new funds entering the market. This shift signifies a structural migration of capital; during the same period, only 95 new mutual funds launched — a 52% decline from 2024 and the lowest level since 1983 — as the industry saw 262 more closures than launches.

A webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, 14 April 2026 at 2:00pm BST | 9:00am EST | 9:00pm CST to reveal the top asset management brands in each region. Registration is available to all https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/5270343/9C55A720DB344CF0E2D572C76AB46728

About the report

Broadridge Fund Brand 50 is an annual study derived from Broadridge’s Global Fund Buyer Focus Intelligence, which equips asset managers with critical analytics on their fund selector preferences, brand tracking, and quality scores. The analytics are driven by intensive interviews with more than 1,300 of the most significant fund selectors in Europe, APAC and the US. Fund selectors name their top-three suppliers across the following 10 brand attributes.

Solidity
Client-oriented thinking
Appealing investment strategy
Expert in what they do
Stability of investment management team
Thinks and acts globally
Understanding of the markets in which they operate
Keeping best informed
Innovation/adaptation to market
Social responsibility/sustainability

These answers, as well as commentary from other preference questions, are collated using statistical analysis and transformed into a ‘Total Brand Score’, on which groups are ranked.

Asset managers, consultants, and other industry stakeholders interested in receiving more detail about Fund Buyer Focus Intelligence can visit this website page. To inquire about Broadridge’s Fund Brand 50 report, please visit the Fund Brand 50 information page.

Broadridge helps asset managers streamline investment operations, comply with changing regulations, and drive revenue and profitability with advanced data, analytics, and global market intelligence. Broadridge’s fund solutions business serves nearly 500 asset managers, and tracks $110 trillion of assets under management, providing fund clients with an unparalleled global view into investor and asset trends.

About Broadridge
Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE: BR) is a global technology leader with trusted expertise and transformative technology, helping clients and the financial services industry operate, innovate, and grow. We power investing, governance, and communications for our clients – driving operational resiliency, elevating business performance, and transforming investor experiences.

Our technology and operations platforms process and generate over 7 billion communications annually and underpin the daily average trading of over $15 trillion in tokenized and traditional securities globally. A certified Great Place to Work®, Broadridge is part of the S&P 500® Index, employing over 15,000 associates in 21 countries.

For more information, visit www.broadridge.com.

Media Contact:

Caroline Wolf
Prosek Partners
[email protected]