Lonsec’s steady-as-she-goes approach pays dividends
| Rate the Raters 2012 |
|---|
Lonsec’s steady-as-she-goes approach has seen the ratings house top Money Management’s Rate the Raters survey for the past few years.
Lonsec general manager research Amanda Gillespie said Lonsec’s success was due to a steadfast focus on the quality of products they rate and being true to the research process.
“We’re sticking to our knitting, but at the same time continually reviewing and making sure that our process and the products we’re rating are relevant to the market,” Gillespie said.
Respondents rated Lonsec highly on the quality and experience of its personnel, with 50 per cent of respondents saying the company was ‘above average’.
Gillespie said it was due to their consistency and depth of seniority. She said Lonsec experienced low staff turnover and added further resources over the year.
“People have ownership and there are experienced lead analysts for each sector, but we’re using those people in other sectors in a support role as well, just to leverage the expertise of people across the team and enhance the cross-pollination of research views and ideas across all sectors,” she said.
Lonsec encouraged an open door policy with managers and tried to be clear about its processes, Gillespie said, and it came through in the survey results with forty-two per cent of respondents rating Lonsec ‘above average’ for transparency.
Gillespie said Lonsec will start to host manager forums in the next six weeks, which it would try to implement regularly to encourage two-way communication – a focus which was highlighted in the survey. Fifty-four per cent of respondents rated the company ‘above average’ for feedback.
“We’re pretty up-front about the things we look for in quality products. In terms of our methodology and process, the team is encouraged to be open and transparent with the product providers we rate but also with prospective products as well,” she said.
Gillespie said while product is still core to Lonsec’s focus, they would include more strategic advice in line with shifting investor demand in the future.
“We will be increasing the focus on more strategic guidance and communication to our subscribers in terms of how to use products and giving them more basis for the discussions they have with their clients,” she said.
Recommended for you
Oksana Patron examines how research houses feel about the ratings ascribed to them by financial planners and how they addressed the potential conflict of interest areas.
After years of indecisiveness, fund managers have voted for the stability of research teams while identifying potential conflicts of interest, Oksana Patron writes.
For the first time in more than four years financial planners have chosen Morningstar as their preferred research house, effectively ending the long-lasting reign of Lonsec, Oksana Patron writes.
Oksana Patron examines the relationship between fund managers and research houses and whether it has been affected by the recent COVID-19 pandemic.
