Colonial bags first place for its service
Colonial First Sate has continued its dream run, topping the 1999 Assirt Service Level Survey.
Colonial First Sate has continued its dream run, topping the 1999 Assirt Service Level Survey.
Out of a possible 10 points, Colonial First State clocked in at 6.69, above BT Funds Management (6.55) and Macquarie (6.52). Colonial scored above average on 35 of the 38 service factors in the survey, which took into account the invest-ment performances of the managers, fund administration services and adviser sup-port.
Assirt general manager Brett Sanders says the result reflects new service meas-ures put in place by Colonial in the past year, such as its Adviser Services Centre and real time Internet software for advisers.
Other strong performers in the survey include Perpetual, which moved from 14th in last year's survey to fourth this year, and Rothschild Australia, which came in at number five, from 12th position last year.
Interestingly enough, no master funds were among the top 10, something Sealcorp marketing director Lisa Henderson attributes to fund managers "lifting their game" in recent times to compete for adviser business.
The four major banks were not included in the survey, which was aimed at those servicing the independent adviser market.
The top service factors cited by advisers in the survey were consistent invest-ment performance, overall fund performance, administrative efficiency, invest-ment team quality and quality of investment management processes.
Assirt says it increased its list of service factors from 18 last year to 38 this year to reflect adviser demand for services from product providers, and in particular business development managers.
"The whole business is getting complex and advisers don't have a lot of time," Henderson said.
"Advisers are looking for business partners, who can help grow their business over and above information on investment performance and investment products,"
For the first time, Assirt also ranked fund managers by fund category. Mercantile Mutual topped the list in capital stable, with Mercury Asset Management first in balanced funds. Other top managers included Macquarie Investment Management in Australian fixed interest, BT Funds Management in international fixed interest, Colonial First State in Australian equities and Perpetual Funds Management in international equities.
More than 380 advisers completed the survey between May and July this year.
Assirt's Service Level Top 5
1 Colonial First State
2 BT Funds Management
3 Macquarie
4 Perpetual
5 Rothschild
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