Date Posted: Jun 17, 2011

Retail Brokerage Spring 2011 Quarterly Report

The feature research article in the Spring 2011 issue of The Retail Brokerage Report expands on our ongoing coverage of investment fund assets in the full-service brokerage channel. The research provides an exhaustive review of their growth, competitive positioning and selection process across the channel. As the second-largest conduit for the delivery of investment funds, the full-service brokerage channel has emerged as a strategic priority for fund manufacturers of all stripes—independent,insurance- and deposit-taker-owned fund complexes alike. The road goes both ways. In any given year, fund-related revenues contribute more than a billion dollars to the channel, with trailers being an important element of a move to generate stable fee-based revenue streams. However, funds are no longer alone. In the past 20 years, a plethora of investment products and fee-based platforms have emerged to coexist with, complement, and compete for advisors’ attention and investors’ dollars. Cognizant of these competitive pressures, nimble fund companies are devising strategies to ensure that they—and their products—are part of a solution, not a trend that has run its course. The opportunity is too significant to ignore.