DST : Half of Professional Buyers Say They are not Well Served by Asset Management Firms

New Study Shows Firms Have Opportunity to Reach Home Offices by Focusing on the Needs of Gatekeepers: Due Diligence and Research Professionals

KANSAS CITY, MO - APRIL 19, 2018 - DST, a leading global strategic advisory, technology, and operations outsourcing company, today released its report, Serving Professional Buyers Online, which identifies an opportunity for asset managers to increase their sales and marketing effectiveness to home offices with a strong digital experience specifically for the crucial professional buyers.

The study, published by DST's Research, Analytics, and Consulting group, examines the increasing influence of the due diligence and research professionals at home offices, their unmet needs as they vet funds and firms, and the ways asset managers can ease their frustrations by rethinking how they provide information and assistance to these professional buyers digitally.

'As home offices wield more power than ever over advisors' investment choices, asset managers need to focus more intently on the due diligence/research professionals who vet the funds that are added or cut from platforms,' said Lee Kowarski, Vice President of DST Research, Analytics, and Consulting. 'These professional buyers told us they evaluate funds to add to the recommended list or models in the same way institutional buyers do, and they are not getting what they need in the process.'

Key findings from the report include:

• 80.8% of professional buyers use asset manager websites to research products but 47.6% said the sites don't provide needed information.
• 52% of due diligence professionals said their National Accounts relationship adds little value.
• More than half of due diligence team members are specialists, evaluating specific investment strategies - so firms need to target them with content on the right type of funds.

Serving Professional Buyers Online includes practical recommendations for the depth and breadth of information this sophisticated and influential audience needs, as well as the efficient digital delivery of content and information that frees up National Accounts teams to focus on more strategic endeavors.

'This study highlights the extent to which professional buyers' research and due diligence needs are not being met by most asset management firms, and also introduces a solution,' said Tracy Needham, the research author and Senior Research Analyst at DST Research, Analytics, and Consulting. 'Firms can get better results from their marketing and sales efforts by cultivating relationships with the professional buyers, especially through a better and more thorough digital information experience.'

This report is based on a survey of 26 due diligence professionals conducted in fall 2017, as well as interviews in early 2018 with more than a dozen professional buyers from wirehouses, regional broker-dealers, TAMPs, independent broker-dealers, and banks. DST also conducted extensive reviews of the current offerings to this audience from asset management firms.

For more information on DST's Serving Professional Buyers Online study and additional research, contact Myra Bartalos, Head of Marketing for Research, Analytics, and Consulting at mbartalos@dstsystems.com.

About DST
DST Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of specialized technology, strategic advisory, and business operations outsourcing to the financial and healthcare industries. We assist clients in transforming complexity into strategic advantage by providing tools and services to help them stay ahead of and capitalize on ever-changing customer, business, and regulatory requirements in the world's most demanding industries.

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Laura M. Parsons
DST Global Public Relations
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