Global Custodian Mutual Fund Administration Survey 2011 Published

The results of the Global Custodian 10th annual Mutual Fund Administration Survey are released today. A summary of rated providers and the Best in Class (BIC) awards that they earned are listed below in Table 1. To illustrate the changes in provider ratings since 2010, we’ve used a color coding system where green indicates upward movement in a rating, red a downward movement, and blue indicates that a provider achieved a rating in a category it did not qualify for the previous year.

Table 1: Rated Providers According to Category and Number of BIC Awards Received.

* Only the longstanding survey rule preventing a shift of more than one rating a year denies this provider Top Rated status.

** Were it not for the longstanding rule preventing a shift of more than one rating a year, this provider would be Not Rated.

Results were based on the submissions of some 470 mutual funds. In addition to the administrators listed in Table 1, Jackson and UBS Asset Management received response. While the responses were too few in number to qualify for rating, we were able to include short assessments on the two administrators.

Methodology

Service providers were rated on 46 questions eight service categories: Client Service and Relationship Management, Value, Fund Accounting and Valuations, Transfer Agency, Distribution Support, Portfolio Servicing, Fund Reporting and Compliance. Respondents graded the quality of service on a scale of 1 to 7, where 7 is excellent; 6, very good; 5, good; 4, satisfactory; 3, weak; 2, very weak; and 1, unacceptable. Scores were then weighted for the size and sophistication of the respondent and for performance on questions named as important in each service area by all respondents. Those that earn a score above an overall survey average are Top Rated . Administrators that receive scores below the average but still considered “good” earn Commended status, while administrators receiving scores beneath that are Unrated .

In addition to achieving ratings, providers are awarded BIC awards, which aim to recognize excellence in servicing clients of different sizes, types and locations in different service areas. Providers are eligible for BIC awards for each service area in 14 size, investment strategy, regional and servicing style categories, and are given an award when a score above the overall survey average for that service area is achieved. A provider that secured a weighted average score in any of the eight service areas in any of the 14 categories – there are 15 categories in all, but BIC awards are not given for the Global category – that was equal to or higher than the weighted average score of all providers in that combination of service and category was eligible for a BIC award for that service area in that category. Providers were eligible for a total of 15 ratings (including Global) and 112 BIC awards. A list of survey averages for those categories is listed below in Table 2.

Table 2: Benchmark Scores

The full results of the Prime Brokerage survey, and a full explanatory methodology, are available for GC subscribers here.

Contacts:Dominic Hobson, Editor in Chief, at dhobson@www.globalcustodian.com or +44 (0) 207 228 3013Allison Cayse, Surveys Editor, at acayse@www.globalcustodian.com or +1 513 574 0220Muzaffar Karabaev, Survey Reprints/Research Enquiries, at mkarabaev@www.globalcustodian.com or +44 (0) 207 148 4289