RETHINKING DISTRIBUTION

Faceattritionor increase interaction, information and transparency

• Put yourselves in each other’s shoes Asset managers should draw on their relationships with distributors, advisers and investors to develop new products, and move towards solution-based products. To deliver the required products, they may need to teamup with other financial solution providers. • Enhance value through quality The most successful distribution strategy cannot be successful if the product fails to deliver investors the expected performance, the value-for-money (the maximum client benefit in the most cost-effective manner) and the safety of a highly regulated vehicle. All in all, investors want a new experience from the asset management industry. The ability of the latter to deliver this new experience, or not, will dictate how succesful the industry will remain going forward.

With increasing use of social media and connectivity, investors will be better informed and will challenge their advisers. Advisers will need to ensure that their personal expertise and sophistication remains high in order to be able to respond to informed investors and engage in a fruitful dialogue. Asset managers and distributors will need to provide tools allowing investors to inform, compare and invest through internet and mobile solutions. Failure to do so would result in customers switching to the competition. To create a competitive advantage in such a new fund distribution paradigm, our research concludes that the key implications for asset managers are: • Invest in relationships Asset managers should invest in close relationships with distributors, investors andemergingmarket players toposition themselves as a privileged interlocutor and solution-provider. • Share and collaborate Assetmanagement firms shouldbeable to listen toandcapture client feedback, using social media for instance, to deliver successful products and services in a timely manner. They should also provide more information, educational materials and training to both investors and advisers to improve their financial capability.

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