Having claimed the Ratings House of the Year title in 2014 on the back of strong support from dealer groups, Zenith has drawn level with Lonsec in the eyes of fund managers for the first time.
The two groups have continued to be highly praised for the quality of their staff and feedback, in the first part of the annual survey, extending a trend that has been running for six years, with Lonsec holding the ascendancy up until now, with the results too close to call.
Apart from gauging fund manager opinions on the performances of the four major research houses over the last 12 months, the survey also showed that managers were indifferent when it came to the business models of the research houses, a trend that has been seen in recent years.
Over the last three years fund managers have continued to report using a range of research houses regardless of the fee model in use and had either paid up-front fees, as charged by Lonsec and Zenith, or subscription/marketing fees to Mercer or Morningstar.
The survey found that Lonsec was the most widely used research house, with 100 per cent of respondents having had funds rated by the company, while almost 95 per cent of respondents said they had been rated by Morningstar or Zenith, with 60 per cent saying Mercer had assessed their funds.
With the collapse of van Eyk Research, a small number of fund managers have reported having had funds rated by SQM and Property Investment Research, with the pair receiving widely positive reviews.
The second part of the Rate the Raters survey will examine the view of financial planning groups and their interactions with research houses, with the winner of the Ratings House of the Year 2015 being announced in late August.
